The Guardian

I spent a year undercover with the far right. We must not let their hatred spread | Patrik Hermansson

Constant exposure to extreme racists was a numbing experience – after a while, I learned to live with unthinkably toxic ideas. The danger is that we all will• Patrik Hermansson is a Hope Not Hate researcher
‘Spending a year inside the far-right community numbs you.’ A far-right march. Photograph: Patrik Hermansson

For the past year, I have been living a dual life. To my friends, I am Patrik, a 25-year-old gay man studying for my master’s in London. To those inside a terrifying and violently race-obsessed world, I have been “Erik”, a dissatisfied Swede who came to London inspired by Brexit and to get away from the liberal bias of Swedish universities.

On behalf of , as it launches in America, I have spent 13 months infiltrating the upper echelons of the “alt-right”, a movement with strongly antisemitic, conspiracy- and

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