1 min readBy Sam Wollaston
‘Would I sit down with Tommy Robinson? It’s not a definite no’: lessons from people who fought the far-right in the 70s, 80s and beyond
By Sam WollastonZimbabwe

Extremists are on the rise globally – but UK activists have seen them off in the past in everything from football, politics, music and more. How did they do it?
Tariq Mehmood encountered the far right early – at primary school. “When white children surround you in the playground and sing, ‘God made little black people, he made them in the night, he made them in a hurry, and forgot to paint them white’, and the school doesn’t clamp down on that, then you’re living within the far right. It’s not one organisation, it’s a mass movement.”
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About this article
- Length
- 99 words · 1 min read
- Published
- October 10, 2026
- Byline
- Sam Wollaston
- Source
- The Guardian