Stan Fontan

Is that it?

[Stan Fontan @stanfontan]

I’ve added maps of the 2 ‘green’ Freeports in Scotland to the 8 in England. Around the lack of media interest there has been good reporting by @PrivateEyeNews concerning the Teesside Freeport and locally by @WCountryVoices. Also condensed threads by @EuropeanPowell #freeports

[Luke @mothrasattorney]

How can you trust Polanski when he’s hanging around with the fascist perpetrators of the Ghorman massacre

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Gaza will be remembered as the moment the world looked away. Cuba is the test of whether it learned anything from this.

Both situations are terrifyingly similar, and there's little doubt that U.S. actions on Cuba were enabled by the world's lack of concrete response on Gaza.

Look:

In both cases it's collective punishment: a siege that cuts off essential supplies for an entire people.

In both cases the perpetrator is acutely aware of the consequences of their own actions. Israel's Yoav Gallant (who, as a reminder, is wanted in The Hague) said "no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel." Here you have a sitting U.S. Congresswoman saying "no electricity, no food, no medicine, only blackout". The exact same language, almost word for word.

In both cases the suffering of the people is cynically blamed on the victims, as if starving an entire people were justified if you disapprove of their leaders. Here Salazar blames the Cuban "regime", and in Gaza it was Hamas.

In both cases it's a decades-old project: the Cuban embargo started in 1962 and the the blockade and occupation of Palestine dates back to 1967.

In both cases it's done against the will of virtually the entire world: Israel is consistently the only country that votes with the U.S. at the UN to maintain the Cuba embargo. The U.S. was the only country that always vetoed ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council to shield Israel. It's a mutual protection pact for the collective punishment of a small besieged people.

And both cases we're witnessing a terrifying escalation in brutality compared with an already very brutal past: starvation and the engineering of a humanitarian catastrophe on an entire people as a method of warfare.

The playbook is the same, the language is the same, the intent is the same. The only thing that can be different this time is the world's response. Otherwise, we're effectively confirming that the U.S. has a license to genocide any nation that doesn't bend the knee.

[Stan Fontan @stanfontan]

@karl_fh @stephenlaw60 ‘Biscuits of hate’

[EuropeanPowell @EuropeanPowell]

Once again, The Guardian ignores the fact that Dartmoor National Park sits within a deregulated Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which is 75km in diameter.
There is also the fact that Starmer's government published a policy paper in June 2025 titled Industrial Strategy Zones Action Plan, which states that it will merge the Tories' freeports and SEZs/Investment zones. This means the deregulatory framework of Freeports is subsumed within the SEZs/Investment zones.
https://t.co/NpGLjA0kEv
Deregulated free zones are expansionist by nature, their armoury includes land grabs, environmental pollution, bulldozing of protected sites, lithium mineral minin,g compulsory purchase orders, tax evasion, 10 year tax holidays, 25 year licenses, and an extractive profiteering model with zero contribution to local community infrastructure.
What will happen is that the deregulatory framework of Labour's Industrial Strategy Zones (ISZs) will render National Parks and over 5000 sites of natural beauty "natures assets", this was recently coined by Blackrock.
The UK is being privatised.
Starmer's changed Labour Party not only colluded with the Tories by signing off on their nationwide free zones rollout immediately after Brexit, but they are now actively trying to hide that Tory collusion with a rebranding exercise.
Why?
So EU rules on State aid, which prohibit public money being used as profit motive can be bypassed by the UK Govt and used as corporate welfare for the likes of Blackrock, Blackstone, Vanguard, Deloitte and 700 more corporate lobbyists, Labour had meetings with everyday for over a year in the run up to the 2024 GE.
Labour is continuing the Tories' carving up of the UK into multiple tax havens, 12 Freeports and 74 SEZs, Food and University Enterprise Zones, Defence Growth Zones, plus the digital layer of AI Growth Zones launched by Starmer in January 2025 (200 bids on sites to date).
No one voted for this.
https://t.co/Wq343yX58A

[Jeremy Gilbert @jemgilbert]

Every single time Adam Curtis tells you that nobody predicted a thing, somebody on the Left definitely predicted that thing.

[basement films @Basement_Films]

Israeli bulldozers arriving and then starting to destroy Noura Al-Kaabi Dialysis Centre in the North of Gaza. Doctors estimate at least 400 dialysis patients have died through lack of treatment. Watch this space for our long awaited film on the destruction of Gaza’s health system

[Stan Fontan @stanfontan]

@GyllKing This is so good: )

[Joe Guinan @joecguinan]

Either the strategists around Starmer can’t see how dangerous a game they are playing vis-à-vis the far right, or they see it and don’t care, or it is part of their plan. Whichever it is, it ought to terrify the rest of us.

[EuropeanPowell @EuropeanPowell]

Labour partnering up with Blackrock means the UK will be privatised.
"BlackRock own, and extract income from, things – schools, bridges, wind farms, and homes – that are nothing less than foundational to our daily being’. This requires them to ‘relentlessly squeeze’ profits out of their holdings – whether that means hiking rents for vulnerable tenants, or charging for the use of common infrastructure" - @graceblakeley
Read Grace Blakeley's book Vulture Capitalism, she describes how the erosion of the nation-state is engineered to a point where govts working hand in hand with corporations step in to 'rescue' democracy from its failures.
The framework for the corporate coup lies in 74 Special Economic Zones (SEZs)and 12 Freeports.
Free zones are designated areas with relaxed laws and by extension relaxed enforcement of laws separate from the host country.
Secondary legislation is embedded within the free zones contracts, meaning zero Parliamentary and public scrutiny.
All free zones give numerous tax breaks to corporations for 10 years, when the deadline for the tax breaks expires, companies are already lobbying the Govt to extend them. Free zone licenses are set at 25 years, Blackrock will asset strip councils and absorb all public services, corporate governance will replace social governance, collective sovereignty (people power) will be replaced with corporate sovereignty (asset classes power).
Now the figures.
Each SEZ receives £160 million in State aid which is public money, multiplied by 74 = £11 billion 840 million
Each Freeport receive £25 million multiplied by 12 = £300 million
Teesside Freeport and SEZ has already spent £560 million of taxpayers money, see @PrivateEyeNews
Teesside was Sunak's flagship Brexit Freeports, profit share is split 90/10 in favour of the private sector.
The UK public are paying billions in subsidies to some of the wealthiest and most corrupt corporations on the planet. Your money is being invested in your regions demise and your families transformation into serfs.
UK free zones contravene EU laws and regulations on State aid where govts of member states are prohibited from using State aid to make profits, this disrupts the integrity of the Single Market by creating an unlevel playing field.
UK SEZs sabotage the UK's chances of rejoining the EU not just because of bypassing rules on State aid but also because of massive deregulatory 'freedoms' that allow companies to pollute the environment, 'self regulate', shred employment rights, tax evasion, turbocharge job displacement, and so on. None of this is acceptable to the EU.
Keir Starmer "There will be no rejoining the EU in my lifetime". Now you know why he says this.
Read the EU Commission website on State aid and SEZs
https://t.co/nEUVJ9N5EC
Lord Smith of Kelvin is managing Director of Otter Ports Ltd which is the parent company of 8 of the UK's 12 Freeports, Otter Ports Ltd is registered in the Cayman Islands, Smith did not declare this in the register of interests, Smith was a pallbearer at the Queen's funeral.
Compulsory Purchase Orders apply to business, agricultural, and residential properties, it is no coincidence that 192 councils have worse debts than Birmingham which was issued with an S114 notice which is technically bankruptcy. 6,000 people could have their homes torn down as part of a £2.2bn project in which 1,266 council houses and 567 properties could be repossessed in a mass compulsory purchase order for the area. Birmingham is host to 6 SEZs. https://t.co/5f8FdySpFM
All 12 UK Freeports are housed inside a Special Economic Zone that ranges from 33 to 75km in diameter, why? SEZs are expansionist by nature, the growth Reeves obsesses with is about corporations, private equity making serious incursions into the public sector, that is privatisation not just of public services but of the entire country, SEZs perforate holes in the fabric of the nation, as zone fever takes hold, economies outside the zones will be forced to capitulate to the corporate political model.
6 days into office Rachel Reeves refused permission for the National Audit Office to investigate England's 48 SEZ's and 8 Freeports despite a damning report from the House of Commons Committee in April 2024, citing lack of transparency, questions over value for taxpayers money, and ignoring of the Nolan principles.
Join the dots.
This all happened because of Brexit, which was based on 'exit strategies' developed in the 1960's, what were once libertarian fringe fantasies have now become reality.
https://t.co/WHIDhUdds1

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

This post is problematic for a number of reasons.

A thread…🧵

1. For those attempting to make sense of Trump’s victory and the rise of the far-right across Europe - look no further than the PMs statement below.

Whether you like it or not, the far-right has a set of common narratives. We can probably all recite them…

[Stan Fontan @stanfontan]

@SecretDJBook @Charliely0n5 “Sorry about that, the needle jumped because my burger fell on the record” Brighton Centre 91

[Marc Owen Jones @marcowenjones]

The more I reflect on what happened in Amsterdam the stranger it seems. A racist team who have a reputation for hate speech come to Amsterdam during a genocide and engage in acts of racism and violence against the local population. They are accompanied by Mossad agents. All this happens under the increased success of Islamophobic Geert Wilders and the PVV. The media, not just in the Netherlands but in Europe and North America publish what looks like an Israeli press release using incendiary language about pogroms and Kristelnacht. Politicians around the world immediately and uncritically embraced this rhetoric and say nothing of pro-genocidal chants. They media mislabel on the ground journalism by Dutch photographer @iAnnetnl to minimise Israeli violence. They ignore evidence from other Dutch journalists like @OmeBender. Channels like Sky News even re-edit packages to maximise the narrative of antisemitism and minimise examples of anti-Arab racism. Dutch parliamentarians then wield propaganda by the Israeli diaspora affairs as if it constitutes evidence. Many media outlets still haven't corrected the record about what happened, from the BBC to WSJ and Sky. It's disturbing and sinister, and shouldn't be allowed to slide.

[Stan Fontan @stanfontan]

@EuropeanPowell Looks great 👍🏻

[EuropeanPowell @EuropeanPowell]

The United States geological survey identifies “Dartmoor in the east to Isles of Scilly in the west” …as one of the top five lithium-enriched granite areas worldwide. Dartmoor is now a part of The Plymouth and South Devon Freeport.
The Dartmoor National Park wasn’t even aware of the fact it was incorporated in the freeport zone. Is Dartmoor to become a lithium mine?
Read @AnnAubert3 article on UK Freeports and their expansionist siblings Special Economic Zones.

[Garrison Lovely is back in nyc @GarrisonLovely]

Seems like more people should be talking about how a libertarian charter city startup funded by Sam Altman, Marc Andreessen, and Peter Thiel is trying to bankrupt Honduras.

Próspera is suing Honduras to the tune of $11B (GDP is $32B) and is expected to win, per the NYT 🧵

[EuropeanPowell @EuropeanPowell]

6 days into office Rachel Reeves refused permission for the National Audit Office to investigate England's 48 SEZs and 8 Freeports for corruption.
https://t.co/i5HB3Lifm4

[Britain People @Britain_People]

🔴SCOOP: SHANKER SINGHAM & TORIES (by @PeterKGeoghegan)

👉Freeport lobbyist met Govt ministers 50+ times

- Shanker Singham was dubbed ‘Brains of Brexit’

- He advises IEA & heads Liz Truss’s Growth Commission - also runs a private consultancy "with a line of business" advising on ‘freezones’

- Today we publish 100s of pages of “extraordinary” documents that show how Singham lobbied a host of Tory ministers on freeport policy, including brokered meetings led by Fujitsu, firm at the heart of the Post Office scandal

- Also found evidence of meetings that were never declared and others opaquely-recorded, making the influence very hard to chart “These emails read as if Mr Singham was acting as ministers’ special adviser, not an outside lobbyist representing clients set to benefit from freeport policy, as well as profiting personally,” says @SteveJGoodrich

“These revelations raise serious questions about the government’s freeport policy and who it’s designed to benefit.” Labour hasn't said what it will do about freeports. But @premnsikka says freeports' "absence of transparency and public accountability is brewing a heady mix of corruption and crony capitalism that is bad for democracy and honest businesses." Singham did not respond to multiple requests for comment

Read full story - & documents! - on Democracy for Sale:

https://t.co/FIwYmo5cRL

[Stan Fontan @stanfontan]

If you can, listen to this. Not everyone will agree with the idea that this will be fundamentally devastating for the uk, but everyone needs to at least understand what the implications are of signing over so much land and economic activity to unaccountable entities.

[EuropeanPowell @EuropeanPowell]

Tomorrow, Sunday 9th I will be speaking about SEZs/Freeports in Aberdeen online from The Hague
Here's what I'll be talking about
The unlawful context of Westminster's imposition of 2 Freeports and 18 SEZs in Scotland. The get-out clause that re-establishes Scottish sovereignty as a legally legitimate factor that extricates Scotland from Westminster's SEZ experiment.
The matter of Lord Smith of Kelvin's Otter Ports Ltd which owns Forth Ports, and is registered in the Cayman Islands.
I will once again provide some introduction on what SEZs are, why they are a danger to local communities and public services, the differences of SEZs inside and outside of the EU, how many are coming to Scotland, the dangerous ideological intentions behind them, their previous disastrous histories of job displacement; companies chasing State Aid, extraction of resources, 10 years tax exemption, 25-year licensing, astronomical costs to the public purse, environmental greenwashing/pollution, land-grabbing, private equity's expansion into Greenfield when there's plenty of Brownfield sites in needs renovation, the question of Scotttish territory and soveriegnty, Kate Forbes letter, US Trade lawyer Shanker Singham's role in SEZs, why the govt is working with Locus Economica who advise on private corporate governance and deregulation in SEZs.
Please join us!
https://t.co/Nxm4yRjXEn

[Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole]

A major critic of Natural England has quietly been appointed to Natural England's board by Ministers.

Landowner Mark Tufnell, ex-President of the Country Land & Business Association, called for "a full scale review of NE's remit".

How landed power works.
https://t.co/gwpJ0yrgqt