Life in the British Far Right

Tuesday, 09 August 2011 16:06

The Independent today runs a special feature with former National Front and BNP activist Matthew Collins.

Collins, whose new book “Hate: My Life in the British Far Right” is soon to be released, is now a dedicated anti-fascist campaigner but his youth was spent in the heart of some of the UK’s most violent racist movements. He talks to the Independent about his time in the NF and the BNP, the rise of the EDL, the Norway massacre and how to tackle racial and religious hatred.

Collins tells the paper:

"This Government is not taking the EDL seriously,"

"These are working-class people who have run out of hope and understanding. If it wasn't radical Islam it would be something else. Increasingly, they have been overrun by Nazis from the old BNP and NF seeing the opportunity to take street violence back to the old levels, seeking a civil race war, this time white Christians against Muslims."

“Could the attacks in Norway happen here?” the Indy asks, to which Collins replies:

"The EDL's leader Tommy Robinson says himself we are five years away from a Breivik in the UK. If a similar attack was to happen here I wouldn't be shocked."

“How does Collins think the UK should deal with this returning threat?

"The last thing we should do is to listen to their demands. But we do need to deal with the issues on which they thrive: identity, alienation, the emasculation of the white working class, job insecurity."”

Read the interview in full here.