Former neo-Nazi activist Nigel Bromage told The Independent that extremists are using false information to recruit young children, often through their adult family members, the British publication reported on Sunday.
Bromage, a former far-right activist now running a deradicalization charity, shared that his group helps young people radicalized by family members and warned that extremists are using false information to recruit people who feel ignored.
This article comes after recent far-right violence in the UK, where rioters have attacked mosques, clashed with police, and destroyed public buildings, which was sparked by false claims about a stabbing suspect.
Bromage, who directs the Exit Hate Trust, shared a case where his charity helped a nine-year-old who had been “fed extremist views by his brother.” According to The Independent's report, Bromage explained that the older brother was involved in far-right groups through “extreme right-wing forums,” and both were later helped by the trust.
Bromage further described how Nazism indoctrinates children, saying, “When babies are born, they are dedicated to Adolf Hitler and national socialism,” leading to an early indoctrination against different ethnicities. He emphasized that by age five or six, children are “pretty much indoctrinated into being against the system and being against people of different ethnicities.”
The Exit Hate Trust accepts self-referrals and those from friends and family. Bromage noted that it is often “the man in a racist or extreme right-wing organization” who then involves his partner, contributing to the spread of extremist views.
Family influence and social media radicalization
Bromage said that racist and extremist ideas are often spread to children through family. He explained, “This then disseminates down to the children,” further noting that families use racist games, music, memes, and humor to indoctrinate kids, according to the report in The Independent.
Anki Deo, senior policy officer at Hope Not Hate, studied focus groups with secondary school teachers and found that harmful attitudes are often learned at home.
Deo said, “A lot of the teachers were railing against the idea that the young people they were concerned about were weird loners,” adding that these students “were actually reasonably popular.” Teachers struggled to overcome these views because students were “parroting things they’d heard at home” rather than adopting positive messages from school.
Bromage, who was once involved in far-right groups, noted that modern protests include both extremists and frustrated individuals.
He explained, “The far right is really good at promoting their message of hate and division,” using tactics like creating misleading memes, spreading lies, and editing films to manipulate perceptions.
Bromage warned that some protesters are “getting lost in this mayhem and destruction” and are being used as “pawns within this plan of the far right to cause destruction.” He pointed out that social media can quickly radicalize individuals, transforming their anger into a belief that violence is the only solution.
Bromage’s neo-Nazi past
Reflecting on his past, Bromage shared that he was drawn to protests from a young age for the excitement, The Independent noted. He described his early involvement, saying, “It was like a drug. You absolutely embraced it and looked forward, sadly, to the confrontations and the flag-waving.” Over time, he became more deeply involved in increasingly extreme far-right groups.
After losing his mother to cancer at 18 and his father in a van accident five years later, he found a sense of belonging in the far-right movement, as he had no siblings. At 23, Bromage joined the National Front, attended their meetings, and started a Rock Against Communism band called Buzzard Bait.
He then became an organizer for the British Movement, a Nazi group, and later worked with Combat 18, a neo-Nazi organization promoting white supremacy. Bromage left this life in 2000 after intervening to stop an assault on a Black man by his far-right peers in Birmingham.
Since turning to campaign work, Bromage has faced significant threats, including having to move house twice and experiencing violence and abuse directed at his organization, with some threats coming from as far as the US.