Modern Insurgent

In 2003. as reports of Janjaweed attacks poured in, Mukesh Kapila then the UN's top official in Sudan found himself at the centre of one of the century's first major genocides. HE reflects on the moral weight of witnessing such an event, and what it means to speak out when silence is safer.

Sudan’s wars are not just about politics or power, they are also about who belongs. Anthropologist Jok Madut Jok guides us through the country’s complex web of ethnicity, language, and region, showing how identity has been weaponised, contested, and reimagined. It’s a conversation about the human dimensions of conflict, and the struggle to imagine a shared Sudanese future.

To understand Sudan today, we begin with the past. In this opening episode, Alex de Waal traces Sudan’s long cycle of coups, uprisings, and unfinished revolutions. From colonial rule to the fall of Omar al-Bashir. Together, we unpack how power, identity, and resistance have shaped the modern Sudanese state, and why history here never truly stays in the past.

Joined by Dr Wil Pansters to discuss how cartels create meaning and legitimacy through belief systems. From the infamous Santa Muerte, to the portrayal of Narcos as moral actors.

Joined by Stefano Ritondale from All Source News to discuss OSINT in the Mexican Drug War, from the information gathered, to the methods used, and even how propaganda is used by the cartels.

Joined by John Gibler, a journalist whose seen firsthand the destruction thrust upon the Mexican people. Some of the biggest horrors seen in the nation and the stories of those affected by them.

Joined by Edgardo Buscaglia, one of the worlds foremost experts on the economic analysis of organised crime, to discuss how the Mexican Drug War is intrinsically linked to state corruption.

In this one, we speak with Ryan McLiverty, former TMI writer and current Computer Security Expert to break down the Guacamaya Leaks. A series of hacks that released military and state secrets across Latin America. We explore what was leaked, by who, about who, and what hacktivism really means.

Joined by Rowan Glass, resident Modern Insurgent editor and filmmaker, to discuss how without an understanding of the context of the Zapatistas and their 1994 uprising, you can never understand Modern Mexico.

We sit down with Deborah Bonello, top level investigative journalist and author of Narcas. We explore the realities of the lives of women in Mexico. From female cartel leaders, to the officers who chase them, to the average woman trying to care for a family. Each one has a story.