Today, the island is the target of a different kind of invasion. Under a €1.4 billion proposal backed by Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, and publicly promoted by Ivanka Trump, Sazan is slated to become an ultra-luxury eco-resort under the Aman brand. Across the water, on the mainland’s Vjosa-Narta coastline, the developers are planning a sprawling resort in the Pishë Poro-Narta protected wetlands—a vital nesting ground for pink flamingos and loggerhead sea turtles.
To clear the path for the bulldozers, the Albanian government quietly amended its conservation laws, stripping protections from ecologically sensitive areas to accommodate five-star developments. This move triggered the "Flamingo Revolution"—weeks of mass protests in Tirana and on the beaches of Zvërnec against corruption and the selling off of the nation’s natural heritage.
What is happening in Albania is not an isolated environmental tragedy. It is the rawest edge of a global trend: the financialisation of land and public space. By turning physical space into a speculative asset, global capital is driving a new form of rentier neofeudalism. We are entering a new Middle Ages where young generations, even those with decent jobs, are priced out of a home, trapped in a cycle of skyrocketing rents and unreachable mortgages.
The Modern Lords of Rent
Historically, classical capitalism was about making things. A factory produced goods, paid workers, and sold products for a profit. Today, the dominant engine of wealth in the West has shifted from production to rent extraction. The UN estimates that global real estate is now worth roughly $217 trillion—accounting for 60% of all global assets, with residential property making up $163 trillion of that total. Housing is no longer primarily a place to live; it is a financial asset designed to secure and accumulate wealth.
This shift mirrors the feudal hierarchies of the Middle Ages. In a traditional feudal society, a tiny landed aristocracy extracted tribute from peasants who were tied to the land. Today, transnational private equity firms and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) act as the new lords. By buying up housing stock and converting it into rental units, they trap tenants in a permanent rent cycle.
The economic value of this rent is what Karl Marx called "false social value" in his Volume III MEGA notebooks: a profit derived from the monopoly over a scarce, non-reproducible resource, rather than the creation of new value. The financialisation of land relies on what David Harvey termed "accumulation by dispossession"—privatising public resources and turning basic needs into commodities.
Under this neofeudal order, we see what theorist Jodi Dean calls "parcellated sovereignty". Billionaires and corporate entities wield enough economic power to bypass public law, rewriting environmental and tax codes to establish private, tax-free enclaves.
The value of these spatial assets is driven by the capitalization of rent
Since the 2008 financial crisis, central banks have flooded the market with cheap credit, artificially inflating asset values ($V$) and driving corporate landlords to gobble up land, pushing homes further out of reach for ordinary workers.
Bunkers, Lobbies, and Bulldozers in the Balkans
Sazan Island, spanning 5.7 square kilometers, was once so militarised that military families lived there in complete isolation from the mainland. It was decommissioned in December 2024, clearing the way for civilian development. The Kushner-backed project, developed by Atlantic Incubation Partners, plans to turn this untouched island into an ultra-luxury eco-resort under the Aman brand.
Affinity Partners' broker in the region is Richard Grenell, a former US ambassador who served as Donald Trump's special envoy for the Balkans. Grenell introduced Kushner to the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, and has been pushing for related luxury projects in Serbia. The plans include a casino, golf courses, a massive marina for mega-yachts, and 10,000 hotel rooms and villas along the mainland's Vjosa-Narta coastline.
But the mainland development directly threatens the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape, a critical stopover on major bird migration routes. In 2024, Rama’s government amended the Protected Areas Law to exempt five-star developments from environmental restrictions. By April 2026, heavy machinery was clearing dunes and forests without approved environmental permits. The destruction of a loggerhead sea turtle nest by a bulldozer became a rallying cry for local activists.
The resulting "Flamingo Revolution" brought tens of thousands of Albanians onto the streets of Tirana. The protests, though initially ecological, quickly morphed into a broader movement against state capture, systemic corruption, and the lack of jobs. The independent anti-corruption body SPAK has launched a formal investigation into the land deals. Meanwhile, the European Commission warned that bypassing environmental regulations could derail Albania’s hopes of joining the EU by 2030.
Water Pistols and Vandalism in Spain
While Albania represents the enclosure of pristine nature, Spain shows what happens when this rentier logic colonises the historic cores of our cities. In destinations like Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, housing has been thoroughly financialised to serve the tourist economy.
With a record 96.8 million foreign visitors in 2025, the pressure on local housing is immense. Apartments that once housed families have been systematically diverted to short-term holiday rentals like Airbnb, causing rents to surge by more than 30% in popular neighborhoods. The result is a phenomenon known as turismofobia. Local communities are disappearing, replaced by an artificial theme park of souvenir shops, burger joints, and holiday flats.
In 2025 and 2026, the frustration boiled over. Activists in Barcelona and Mallorca marched with water pistols, spraying tourists dining at outdoor cafes. Stickers reading "Tourist Go Home" and "Citizen Self-Defense" appeared on Airbnb key boxes and hotel doors. In June 2026, the protests turned physical when a coordinated night attack targeted five international real estate agencies in Mallorca, including the luxury firm Engel & Völkers, smashing windows and spray-painting "Guilty!" and "Guiris out!" on the walls.
The Balearic Real Estate Association (ABINI) reacted with fury, calling the vandalism "cowardly" and arguing that building more housing—rather than attacking foreign investment—is the answer. Yet, the political reality is changing. Fearing total social collapse, local governments are stepping in. Barcelona’s mayor announced a radical plan to phase out all 10,000 holiday rental licenses by 2028. In May 2025, the Spanish government forced Airbnb to delist 66,000 unlicensed properties. In Valencia, authorities have begun physically cutting off water and electricity to illegal holiday rentals.
Two Sides of the Same Coin
The crises in the Balkans and the Iberian Peninsula might seem distinct, but they are driven by the exact same market forces. Whether it is a wild lagoon in the Balkans or a family apartment in Barcelona, the underlying crisis is the same: the privatization of physical space for rent extraction. The financialisation of land is separating space from its social use, leaving a generation without the stability of a home. If we are to avoid a neofeudal future of permanent precarity, we must treat housing and land as fundamental human rights, not speculative commodities