00:23Hi, this is a difficult conversation to have.
00:27For years, I was a dedicated extreme right-wing activist.
00:33I supported ethnic nationalism and became a national socialist.
00:38I hated the system, who I thought had betrayed ordinary white working people and people who
00:44had different ethnicities, religions and even identities to me.
00:49I wasn't brought up this way, but over time my views became extreme because I couldn't
00:56speak about my concerns like immigration and how I felt I was being replaced.
01:01Online, people listened.
01:03They allowed me to speak without calling me things like racist.
01:08They offered simple answers and the further I got involved, the more I believed them.
01:14While involved, I would have done anything for the cause and I mean anything.
01:20People often struggle to understand people who become extremists, but we have to.
01:26You don't wake up a racist or Nazi, there has to be a grooming process to get you there.
01:32And today, the process is taking place 24 hours a day, online and via one-to-one conversations.
01:40For me, national socialism was everything.
01:45I rejected elections because I thought they were a waste of time and believed that creating
01:50an elite Nazi network was the way forward.
01:54I recruited quality people who weren't into drugs or alcohol, had good jobs and where possible
02:01had families and set about creating something that would be a long-term foundation that we
02:07could build on and create a community.
02:11Not supportive of violence initially, I knew there would be a time it was needed and we
02:16trained for it, so we were ready.
02:20Educating children in extremist views was normal and our aim was the development of a Nazi underground
02:27where we would be seen as normal people by day and then become Nazi activists at night.
02:32Dedicated to each other, brotherhood was everything.
02:36But in reality, brotherhood doesn't exist.
02:40Trust crumbles as nationalist, fights nationalist, and it doesn't matter who gets hurt.
02:47Individuals, families, the list goes on.
02:51Slowly, but surely I started to see through it.
02:55And today, I know all extremism is wrong.
02:58People get hurt, including the victims of hate, those involved, and their families.
03:05So what is the answer?
03:08That's a hard question, but one that we will look at in our Extremism Challenge series.
03:14Thanks for listening.
