Photo: Wesley T Allen via Creative Commons
A deep dive into what recovery from extremism looks like in the UK.
When we think of addiction and recovery, we usually think of things like drinking and gambling. We don’t tend to think of extremism and racism. But a similar process of recovery must be undergone by those who wish to leave certain ideologies and communities behind.
In the UK, there are few public figures who have spoken about their journey of de-radicalisation. However, these stories are vital public knowledge and they need to be expressed and heard.
Nigel Bromage was a neo-nazi for almost twenty years. He has openly discussed his recovery from extreme racism and now helps others do the same.
He was a member of several right-wing extremist organisations, most of them rooted in Nazi ideology. A notable aspect of Bromage’s story is how long it took for him to break out of the ideology.
The process took roughly three years with Bromage finally snapping when he witnessed 15 of his comrades racially abusing a black man.
Bromage spent years living with a deep sense of shame. He spent his time doing community work in an attempt to right his wrongs.
In 2015, he underwent training with the government programme Prevent and from there he set up a consultancy group called Small Steps . Small Steps investigated ways to counteract the rise of extremism in communities. Two years later, he set up Exit Hate Uk, which offers one-on-one support for those who are looking to exit the world of radicalism.
In terms of research, experts are increasingly analysing social media posts and online groups for clues on the driving forces behind extremism.
However, penetrating online subcultures and taking the time to understand all the nuances of these groups can be particularly time-consuming and resource draining.
Dr Julia Ebner of Oxford University has uncovered a key factor in those who commit violence inspired by extremism. ‘Identity fusion’ is when the personal identity of an individual becomes intertwined with the collective identity of a group.
Dr Ebner analysed more than one million messages from online chats and forums, as well as over 4000 pages from known-terrorist manifestos.
She realised that terrorist manifestos are marked by a statistically higher presence of linguistic features of identity fusion, as well as demonising and dehumanising language towards those outside of the group, and violence-pardoning language.
In the UK, there is remarkably only one registered charity that utilises one-on-one interventions for those who are looking to leave an extremist organisation. This is the Exit Hate Trust founded by Nigel Bromage.
A statement from the charity to Uproute reads:
“Set up initially in 2016 as a community group, our aim has always been to support people using our lived experiences.
“As an organisation, some of us are former political activists who have been involved in extremism ourselves, so we know exactly what it is like to be involved, and some of us have had family members involved in extremism, so we know what it is like to have a loved one involved, feel alone and have lives damaged by extremism.”
“Seeking to develop conflict resolution and reduce extremism, we offer a listening ear, lived experience support, so no one feels alone.”
The government currently has several ongoing programs which offer people support with radicalisation. Prevent is a national programme that is run by local experts who specialise in the specific needs and intricacies of their communities.
The program has had mixed success, with a recent April report by the Home Affairs Committee stating that the programme is ‘outdated and inadequately prepared’ to handle modern threats. Referrals to the programme have reached a record high of 8,778, but MPs have discovered that the majority of these cases are non-ideological in nature.
The report stated: “The escalation in Prevent referrals involving no clear ideology and no clear signs of radicalisation to terrorism represents a significant challenge to a system designed to address the ideological roots of terrorism.
“Prevent and Channel are becoming saturated with such individuals, many of whom show no commitment to any particular ideology and some of whom are neurodiverse. The Home Office is allowing the Prevent system to drift beyond its remit without providing any strategic direction to meet these challenges.”
The report also criticised the programme’s lack of digital prowess and online resources:
“Prevent is poorly adapted to deal with the digital world. We have outlined how online spaces are now central to the radicalisation process, particularly for young people, yet Prevent lacks the specialist knowledge or framework for identifying and assessing credible risk signals from online behaviour.
“Integration of Prevent into wider safeguarding systems is being hampered by poorly resourced, over-stretched and siloed agencies working against mis-aligned priorities.
“Against this backdrop, Prevent has become a fast track to support, even where concerns are not terrorism related, and particularly in relation to accessing mental health support.”
