Albania’s capital, Tirana, has been the site of intense protests as thousands gathered in front of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office to denounce the handover of national heritage for a tourism project linked to the Trump family on the Adriatic coast.

Social and environmental organizations accuse the government of tailoring environmental protection laws to allow Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner to build on Sazan Island and in the Vjosa-Narta Lagoon. The project would be near one of Europe’s last wild river ecosystems, which the state had previously pledged to protect.

Tensions in the streets are escalating as more details of the agreement emerge: a concession that, critics argue, surrenders territorial sovereignty in exchange for meager returns to the state budget, while the profits remain in the hands of the Trump-Kushner family. In the popular assemblies that have proliferated across Tirana, a common message has emerged: this is not “development,” but rather a form of colonial plunder in which public land is being sold off to build a luxury enclave inaccessible to Albania’s working people, who face low wages and rapidly rising inflation.

The luxury complex, valued at $1.6 billion, would destroy the dunes and pine forests of Sazan Island and the Vjosa-Narta Lagoon, a critical ecosystem for migratory birds and sea turtles that is now threatened by concrete, yachts, and exclusivity for the wealthy. “The nation is not for sale,” read the signs carried by thousands of demonstrators who have faced repression by private security guards, with the state’s complicity.

Billionaires’ Private Cities and Neo-Colonial Projects

What is happening in Albania is not an isolated case, but rather the modus operandi of a billionaire elite that views the world as their playground. A similar example emerged as part of the “Board of Peace” presented in Davos at the beginning of 2026, where Trump — following a plan designed by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — announced a proposal for the “reconstruction of Gaza.”

Built on the aftermath of Israel’s genocide and the displacement of the Palestinian population, the project envisions transforming the Gaza Strip into a “Middle Eastern Riviera,” featuring luxury beachfront apartment buildings, a new port, an international airport, and zones dedicated to coastal tourism and data centers. The plan, which includes the creation of an industrial zone named after Elon Musk, would operate under strict security control and would require displacement of Palestinians to neighboring states in order to clear the land following.

Another notorious neo-colonial project devised by one of the world’s leading billionaires is Peter Thiel’s “model city” initiative in Honduras, known as Próspera. There, the libertarian magnate sought to create an enclave governed by its own laws, courts, and tax system, operating outside national sovereignty.

When the project became a national scandal and the Honduran government moved to halt it, Thiel did not hesitate to sue the country in international tribunals, demanding compensation for being prevented from playing God on foreign soil. Thiel has repeatedly stated that he has little faith in governments or democracy, arguing that countries should be run like private companies under a CEO with absolute authority.

Yet, like many of the world’s wealthiest individuals, he continues to rely on states and governments to secure contracts, conduct business, and protect what he considers his private property rights — even when it comes to projects as controversial as the one in Honduras.

It is therefore no coincidence that Thiel recently arrived in Argentina with plans to establish a presence there and evaluate investment opportunities. The billionaire, a personal friend of Javier Milei and a central figure in Silicon Valley’s neo-reactionary movement, is reportedly seeking in the Southern Cone what he has pursued elsewhere: luxury enclaves and survival bunkers through land acquisitions in Patagonia and other strategic areas as insurance against global collapse. The plans also offer opportunities for data and resource extraction through companies like Palantir, which could be linked to the Argentinian government’s recent announcement exploring the use of “digital twins” for citizens.

Indeed, the Argentinian Senate is set to vote in an upcoming session on a law concerning the “inviolability of private property,” which critics argue could facilitate the purchase of strategic lands by removing limits that previously applied to foreign citizens.

Whether in Albania, Honduras, or Argentina, the logic is the same: a handful of billionaires, with the approval of compliant governments, advancing over territory, natural commons, and national sovereignty. The response must also be the same, as demonstrated today in Albania through the struggle and resistance against those who seek to turn the planet into their private backyard.

Originally published in Spanish on June 4 in La Izquierda Diario

Translated by Matteo Polenta

The post Massive Protests in Albania Against Trump Family’s Tourism Project in Protected Areas appeared first on Left Voice.

From Left Voice via This RSS Feed.