and after years in exile, returned to britain to become a prominent activist for the group hope not hate. what is the most effective antidote to hate fuelled neo nazi extremism 7 matthew collins, welcome to hardtalk. yourjob is rooting out, exposing, the most vile forms of racism neo nazism. yep. the twist is that you, yourself, in your youth, were one of them. do you see traits of yourself in today s neo nazis? some. some traits. poacher turned gamekeeper. i see some traits. i see in some of them the uncertainty about what they believe, the doubts about what they believe, the sadness, deep sadness, and it s one of the things i look for. if i want to recruit someone, i don t recruit a happy fascist, i recruit someone who s unhappy, who s uncertain. and that s what i aim at and that s what i go for. sounds like you make a real effort to understand their pain. yeah, i think a lot of people think anti fascists just generally must hate all fascists, but my thing is ijust hate the
socialists, the left, trade unionists, people like that. and in the 80s and the 90s, the people who were most likely to physically confront fascists were generally trade unionists and left wing groups. yeah, but you were very happy to yell the n word into people s faces. absolutely, absolutely. the n word, the p word, the w word, all kinds of words. and we need briefly to talk about welling, cos it s sort of a watershed moment in your life. it was a meeting of anti fascist activists, campaigners. anti racists. ..anti racists. the general good and great of the community. yeah, and its local to your home in south east london. yeah. you pitch up with scores of thugs. yeah. i mean, you were a thug. scores of thugs, they march in, they see elderly ladies, they see pregnant women, they see men, and they just attack. yes. and you were part of it. i was part of that. and you, presumably, attacked people.
and in the 80s and the 90s, the people who were most likely to physically confront fascists were generally trade unionists and left wing groups. yeah, but you were very happy to yell the n word into people s faces. absolutely, absolutely. the n word, the p word, the w word, all kinds of words. and we need briefly to talk about welling, cos it s sort of a watershed moment in your life. it was a meeting of anti fascist activists, campaigners. anti racists. ..anti racists. the general good and great of the community. yeah, and it s local to your home in south east london. yeah. you pitch up with scores of thugs. yeah. i mean, you were a thug. scores of thugs, they march in, they see elderly ladies, they see pregnant women, they see men, and they just attack. and you were part of it. i was part of that. and you, presumably, attacked people. yes. how come you have never been