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Wall Street’s New Prison Scam

Katya Schwenk The Lever
As states crack down on prison-phone price gouging and resulting government kickbacks, telecom companies and their private equity backers have new ways to game the system.

‘War Against the Children’

Zach Levitt, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Simon Romero and Tim Wallace New York Times
The Native American boarding school system — a decades-long effort to assimilate Indigenous people before they ever reached adulthood — robbed children of their culture, family bonds and sometimes their lives.

The Colonial Roots of Peru’s Troubles

Saraha A. Kennedy Sapiens
An archaeologist traces the current protests in Peru to exploitive labor policies enacted in silver mines during Spanish colonial rule from 1532 to 1800.

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In the WWE, Wrestlers Say Labor Abuses Are Everywhere

Tim Gill Jacobin
The WWE wrestlers who put their bodies through the ringer on a near-nightly basis lack basic control over their work and lives. Many know they need a union — but the barriers to forming one are steep.

Turning Off Congo’s Looting Machine

John Prendergast Project Syndicate
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been pillaged by foreign governments and corporations for more than 500 years, and this sordid pattern continues to this day. Given this history, is it any wonder that the country suffers from massive corruption, perpetual conflict, and state capture?

The Root of Haiti’s Misery: Reparations to Enslavers

Catherine Porter, Constant Méheut, Matt Apuzzo and Selam Gebrekidan New York Times
In 1791, enslaved Haitians did the seemingly impossible. They ousted their French masters and founded a nation. But France made generations of Haitians pay for their freedom — in cash. How much has remained a mystery, until now.
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