“When a young man comes to us with these views, we do not initially say, ‘you’re wrong,’” Tatten explains. “We just say, ‘well, we don’t agree with that, but let's talk about something else.’ We talk about things like sports, gaming, music, social media. We build that trust and we address the other issues they have going on in their lives. Then once that relationship is established, we flip that extreme view. We say, ‘actually, do you know what? We've got a different view.’”
Everything the Warren does is centred on building a community where a young person has a place they belong. Crucially, that community is diverse: the Warren supports young people of all genders, sexualities, and from a range of ethnicities and nationalities.
“If you're spending time as a young person with somebody of a different ethnic background, somebody of a different gender, somebody of a different viewpoint, somebody with a different taste in music, somebody who likes to play a different game that you play, it's impossible to come to hate them,” says Tatten. “Propaganda doesn’t work on you anymore, because you've seen the real thing, and it enables you to see that it’s ridiculous. When you push that nonsense away, suddenly, these extremists have no foundation.”
The approach has won the Warren national attention. Next month, young people from the project will travel to 10 Downing Street to meet prime minister Keir Starmer’s team. Starmer put tackling the far right at the centre of his Labour Party conference speech in September, stating: “If you say or imply that people cannot be English or British because of the colour of their skin… then mark my words, we will fight you with everything we have.”
But Tatten has no illusions about the scale of the challenge in pushing back against far-right manipulation and exploitation of young men. This challenge is heightened by the impact of more than a decade of austerity on youth work and the growth of inequality and deprivation, particularly in former industrial and fishing hubs like Hull. Since 2011, youth clubs and youth workers in England and Wales have been cut by 69%, while the clubs that have survived report a growing number of young people seeking out such projects. Last year, the Warren helped more than 1,500 young people, which Tatten says is more “than the numbers we were getting through our doors before the pandemic”.
“The drastic cuts to youth services in the 2010s left many teenagers without the places and trusted adults to turn to in order to build relationships, keep them safe and inspire them,” Baroness Anne Longfield, executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives and former Children’s Commissioner for England, told openDemocracy. “Sadly, some young people are particularly vulnerable to adults who groom them into believing they are providing relationships they are sometimes missing elsewhere in their life.”
Projects such as the Warren can help to tackle that vulnerability. “The building of long-term, trusted, sustainable, and impactful relationships with vulnerable children, their families and communities doesn’t happen overnight,” said Longfield. “But it is one of the foundations of diverting young people away from the criminal justice system and keeping them safe from radicalisation, exploitation or violence.”
Nearly 200 miles away from Hull, in a swanky club in Knightsbridge, an affluent district in London’s West End, two artists from the Warren’s in-house record label perform at an event organised by one of the youth project’s funders, the Global Fund for Children.
Non-binary indie artist Moss sings of learning to accept themselves, while MC Yxungmind leads the smartly dressed crowd into a lively chant of “I just want to praise you.” His enthusiasm is infectious as he dances across the make-do stage, rapping about his relationship with his faith. Both are from marginalised backgrounds, both are ambitious, talented and full of energy. The Warren has given them a place to develop and express their voices in a safe and supportive environment.
“With patience and time, and that building of a relationship with a young person, a trusted relationship with somebody who is not chaotic, is not aggressive, and who is understanding, is willing to give their time to you, you can't fail to engage with that,” says Tatten. “And that’s what youth work is all about.”
