Armed with his liberal views and English identity Aran Tori meets nationalist figures from the varied spectrum of the far right. Aran’s mindset and minority status doesn’t make his interviewing easy in the Amazon Prime documentary ‘Britain’s Ultra Nationalists’ which has topped the charts.
Jack Sen, a white identity spin doctor and staunch supporter of Donald Trump tells Aran he’s not English and all forms of immigration are like cancer. He repeats Trump’s words that “all countries that are shit holes happen to be black”. Mr Sen helps a network of groups empower white identity across Britain, Ireland and U.S. His politics are so extreme police keep him under constant surveillance. In the film Jack feels anxious, talking about his encounters with the police and his paranoia because of calls received from social services about his daughter. Under UK counter terrorism law police can enforce a child’s separation from their parents to prevent them from being radicalised.
Jack Sen (Courtesy of Journeyman Pictures)
Aran meets other hard hitting nationalists including Anne Marie Waters who lost the UKIP leadership contest but has since formed her own political party called For Britain. Like other leading nationalists she believes in giving whites more power, stopping immigration and peddling fear about a Muslim take over.
The visceral and venomous comments of the far right aren’t suppressed or dealt with by Aran in a confrontational way. Mr Tori keeps his cool and coaxes the divisive views. In Essex, white power advocate Paul Pitt reveals his sympathies for extremists Thomas Mair and Darren Osborne, responsible for the deaths of MP Jo Cox and elderly Muslim worshiper Makram Ali. Pitt’s alarming comments reveal a reflection of how extremist minds are being shaped, driven by the notion of superiority, anti-establishment sentiment, Brexit and Trump’s rhetoric – a worrying cocktail that transpires into hate and conspiracy theory, emboldening nationalists and demonising the “other” (Immigrants, Blacks, Asians, Muslims, Jews,…).
Aran Tori with Paul Pitt (Courtesy of Journeyman Pictures)
The balance of Aran Tori’s light hearted approach with the far right makes an insightful and entertaining film but the highlight of the film goes to Tommy Robinson’s uncle, Darren Carroll who founded the street protest movement EDL with his nephew. Darren has changed his ways, favouring tolerance and supporting his diverse ethnic and multi-religious community through housing projects.
I caught up with the film’s presenter Aran Tori who said “I was accused of making fake news by them (nationalists) and there were moments I felt uneasy about their hostile comments but my intrigue on how they ended up here kept me going”.
The film has received high ratings by critics, scoring 8 out of 10 on IMDB and selected for best short documentary at London’s Fusion Festival.
Logan Xavier
