In 2015 Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orban proudly unveiled a razor wire fence along the country’s southern border with Serbia. But far from stop migration to Europe, it disperses the flows through neighboring countries. Meanwhile in the frontier villages it has spawned a thriving smuggling market, with shootouts between gangs and police corruption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Belarusian dictator wages hybrid warfare on Europe’s eastern border, using migrants as his weapon. The EU responds forcefully by punishing the victims with barbed wire and pushbacks. But resistance to these hardline measures is building in Polish villages along the frontline, and activists race to rescue people stranded in Europe’s largest forest before it’s too late. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why are migrants disappearing from the Greek islands and ending up at sea? How has the country that once won international plaudits for their humanitarian welcome, become a place of fear and suspicion? On the island of Samos, we try to unravel a sinister mystery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This summer saw far-right mobs unleash devastating violence towards migrants and asylum seekers in Britain. It’s a far cry from the outpouring of sympathy shown during the European refugee crisis a decade ago. The new seven-part documentary podcast Fortress Europe shows how years of increasingly brutal and dehumanizing anti-migrant policies have fanned the flames of extremism but still failed to prevent record high asylum applications. We travel across the continent hearing from people making treacherous journeys, those trying to stop them, and those standing up for their rights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices