Britain is facing a growing threat from the far right, according to a report launched today from campaign group HOPE not hate.
Its report STATE OF HATE 2019 says a growing anti-politics mood is deepening divisions across the UK and boosting the rise of the far right, leading to the rise of an 'emotionally-driven, conspiratorial populist mass'.
It warns of the growing influence of groups such as the Nazi Satanist 'Order of Nine Angles', a racist organisation that deifies Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.
In one of its rituals a 'Mass of Heresy' is performed before an altar adorned with a swastika banner, a photograph of Hitler and a copy of Mein Kampf. A 'creed' said by participants reads:
We believe Adolf Hitler was sent by our gods
To guide us to greatness.
We believe in the inequality of the races
And in the right of the Aryans to live
According to the laws of the folk.
Rituals include sexual practices and the sacrifice of an animal, and the Order's literature 'regularly advocates ritualised rape, random attacks on innocent victims and "human culling"'.
The report says that 'in the internet age, as extremists from around the world congregate together online, seeking out the "edgiest" positions and ideas, and younger people are drawn in, the O9A is arguably becoming more visible and influential than ever'.
More broadly, the report warns of an 'an increasing threat level from far-right "lone actor" terrorism' with 'a younger, more extreme set of neo-nazis emerging, as traditional far-right organisations continue to fragment and collapse'.
It says anti-Muslim prejudice has surged to overtake anti-immigrant sentiment, though the latter is also increasing. Five of the world's top 10 far-right activists, in terms of social media reach, are British, often promoting a conspiratorial narrative that is deeply anti-establishment, anti-Muslim, anti-politics and anti-women.
The report warns that with Brexit tensions aflame, divisions are only likely to increase, boosting the far right's populist message on the street, online and at the ballot box.
Chief executive Nick Lowles said: 'We are facing a crisis of political mistrust across all sections of the population. Politics is failing to overcome a disconnect driven by people's anger and by their economic pessimism.
'A mistrust in political representatives adds potency to a mix of unmet expectations, broken promises, and possible further decline and anger.
'With some of the largest far-right street protests in decades coalescing around far-right figures such as Stephen Lennon [Tommy Robinson], we are also witnessing a worrying narrative of "betrayal" and "traitors" which is increasingly dominating the far right's discourse, heavily focused on MPs – and women MPs in particular.'
He said polling revealed a 'disturbing' level of anti-Muslim prejudice and rising antisemitism on the Left.
Just today, seven Labour MPs have resigned from the party in protest at what they claim is its tolerance of antisemitism.
He also warned of a 'growing threat of violence from the younger neo-Nazis' emerging out of the destruction of banned terror group National Action, saying: 'There are justified concerns that the police response to these rising threats, especially against MPs, has fallen short. We believe a very real threat remains from terrorism carried out by lone actors, too, radicalised over the internet.'
