Since 2019, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has smashed the country’s two main gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, throwing almost 80,000 people into megaprisons and implementing a harsh but effective “state of exception,” aka martial law. Murder rates have plummeted and, for the first time in years, Salvadorans can live without the fear of violence, extortion, or ... Show More
Yesterday
The Shaman-Gangsters Who Built Indonesia
For centuries, brigands, gangsters and street toughs ruled the island of Java so thoroughly that they were woven into local myths. But in the 20th century, when the world bounded towards war, mob bosses in Jakarta spotted a chance to turn underworld kudos into an independent nati ... Show More
1h 7m
Jun 24
Cocaine, Camorra, Call Girls: Maradona's Downfall
In 1987, Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona was on top of the world. He’d just handed his nation a World Cup, and his club side Napoli its first league title in over 60 years. But Maradona’s hard-partying lifestyle and underworld friends would soon take their toll - and before ... Show More
1h 9m
Apr 6
A Deadly Nazi Cult in Chile
For nearly 40 years, a secretive colony in the Chilean countryside hid unspeakable horrors: child abuse, torture, and a twisted legacy of Nazism. Colonia Dignidad, led by ex-Nazi Paul Schäfer, thrived not just as a cult but as a brutal tool of oppression during Chile’s Pinochet r ... Show More
33m 39s
Mar 2025
"Imprisoning a Revolution: Writings from Egypt's Incarcerated" (U California Press, 2025)
Imprisoning a Revolution: Writings from Egypt’s Incarcerated (U California Press, 2025), edited by Collective Antigone, is a groundbreaking collection of writings by political prisoners in Egypt. It offers a unique lens on the global rise of authoritarianism during the last decad ... Show More
1h 6m
May 14
The Zapatista Uprising | 135
On January 1, 1994, masked indigenous rebels burst from the rainforest in Chiapas, Mexico to launch an uprising that was years in the making. The Zapatista Army declared war on the Mexican Government demanding basics rights for the diverse Mayan communities who lived in extreme p ... Show More
42m 50s