TELL ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET FUNDERS TO LEAVE SIMONE CLARKE ALONE!

Dear Patriot:

As you can read in the Time story below, some of the financial backers
of the English National Ballet seem to be considering pulling their
funding over prima ballerina Simone Clarke's membership in the British
National Party.

Please write to these corporate sponsors and tell them an artist's
political views are irrelevant. (Be polite, and don't waste time
debating the merits of the BNP. This is about freedom, not the party.)

The contact addresses are below. It's OK to write one message over and
over, but please send them separately, not with cc:

Thanks!

THE LIST:

The Arts Council: enquiries@...
Capezio: capeziodanceeu@...
Chanel: chaneluk@...
CMS Cameron McKenna: charles.dalton-holmes@...
Investec: info@...
Linklaters: rupert.winlaw@...
The Dorchester Hotel: info@...
Sky TV (Artsworld): corp.responsibility@... (Sky TV) AND
alyssa.bonic@... (Artsworld channel)
Freed of London: info@...
British Airways: media.relations@...
Howrey LLP: tillc@...
The Foyle Foundation: info@...
Rudolf Nureyev Foundation: contact@...
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund:
Daniel.Woolford@...
Garfield Weston Foundation: http://www.garfieldweston.org/contact


NEWS STORY:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6255195.stm
Bovver boots and ballerinas
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News community affairs

Good vocal chords: Not what theatre-goers were expecting

British far-right politics has changed a bit in recent years. Out have
gone the bovver-booted bomber-jacketed skinheads. In have come the
business suits and a ballerina. And so, in the unlikeliest of turns, a
dozen or so anti-racism protesters turned their foghorn vocal chords
away from their familiar haunts to turn up on the steps of the Coliseum,
the home of the English National Ballet in London's West End.

Why? Because Simone Clarke, principal dancer with the ballet and the
lead in the current run of Giselle, is a British National Party member.

"Ballet should be Nazi free! Stop the fascist BNP! Ballet not bigotry!
Stop the fascist BNP!" came the chants.

Delicately poised: Are Ms Clarke's politics compatible with her job?
Some ballet-goers threw quizzical looks - others occasionally tutted.
"Pathetic," mouthed one well-dressed woman to her companion as she
entered the theatre. This was a rare meeting of completely different
worlds.

But Ms Clarke, according to a glowing interview on her own website, is
that "rarest of human beings". The interviewer wasn't wrong.

Born in Leeds, Simone Clarke has battled to the top of her profession -
a profession where the key skills are in such high demand that employers
search the globe for the right person. Eight of the 10 principals with
the English National Ballet were born abroad. Ms Clarke's love interest
in Giselle is played by Russian-born Dmitri Gruzdyez.

And then there is her real love interest: Her partner, Yat Sen-Chang,
also an ENB principal dancer, is a Cuban of Chinese extraction.

So while this world of high arts and even higher jumps may be insulated
from the gritty realities of hard-nosed politics, it is hardly short of
experience when it comes international migration.

All of which has made Ms Clarke's position all the more interesting, not
least because she has defended her views, following her naming by the
Guardian newspaper.

'Concerned but not racist'

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the dancer said the BNP was the
only party "willing to take a stand" against uncontrolled immigration.
Her partner had encouraged her to join up, she said - so talk of racism
was "silly".

And on and on: Two hours of chanting
"I will be known as the BNP Ballerina. I think that will stick with me
for life. I don't regret anything." The ENB has come under pressure to
sack Ms Clarke, but has said that her politics is a private matter and
it has not mandate to comment on her views. But this didn't wash with
protesters like Lee Billingham of Love Music Hate Racism. "It's just not
that simple," he said taking a break from leafleting passers-by. "It's
not that there has just been some kind of undercover reporters' expose.

"She has reiterated her views in the papers. The ENB is a publicly
funded arts body. It gets our money. It has a duty to promote diversity
and equality.

"The BNP is not a normal political party. Anyone who takes time to look
at it knows that. We need to draw a line in the sand."

So what did the punters make of it all?
Vincent, a veteran ballet-goer and Soho resident, said he found the BNP
"rather disgusting people" - but their politics was "entirely
irrelevant" to the performance.

"She can have all the views she wants and I can have mine. That is the
nature of a free democracy," he said. "She's up there as a professional
dancer and as long as she keeps to that on stage, I have no objections.

"Everybody would have forgotten about her unfortunate politics had it
not been for this demonstration. Now the BNP are getting publicity,
which is hardly useful." Most people shared his view.

Walk-out
But Judy Chan, 62, of Harlow walked out - possibly the only person to do
so - on discovering more about Ms Clarke. She handed her ticket back to
ENB staff and, to the complete surprise of the protesters, offered to
hand out leaflets.

Judy Chan: Handed in her ticket, walked out
"The BNP are a fascist movement and fascists have cost the world dear,"
she said. "I grew up in the aftermath of the war and saw what fascism
had done to the world - millions dead, entire countries destroyed.

"This would have only been the second ballet I have gone to and I don't
have that much money. But I cannot sit there and clap that woman knowing
what I now know.

"If she is a ballerina, she should be a fairly sophisticated person. And
if she cannot or will not distinguish between normal politics and
fascism then I don't want to watch her." And then things took an even
more surreal turn.

BNP outing
Richard Barnbrook, the leader of the BNP in Barking and Dagenham turned
up with some less-than-balletic looking minders.

Protesters surged and chants grew louder. Police led Mr Barnbrook away
for his own safety. Busting stereotypes, Mr Barnbrook told reporters he
was hoping to enjoy an afternoon at the ballet. That enjoyment was later
disrupted when two protesters began chanting mid-performance.

Richard Barnbrook: BNP outing to the ballet
"I don't normally go to the ballet but I'm going to support Simone
Clarke," he said. "I'm supporting her freedom of expression."

"They are trying to get her sacked for one simple reason: her standing
up for common sense and saying she doesn't support the government.

So what did he think of her relationship with Mr Sen-Chang? "I'm not
opposed to mixed marriages but children [of these relationships] are
washing out the identity of this country's indigenous people. That's my
view. It's not the party's view." Mr Barnbrook did not appear to be
aware that Ms Clarke and Mr Sen-Chang have a child. In the history of
modern British politics, Ms Clarke's story may not appear that
important. But her views are of immense value to the BNP itself.

Nick Griffin, the BNP's leader, has one aim. For years, the British
far-right looked enviously at the strides made by Jean Marie Le Pen's
National Front in France. In 2002, Le Pen reached the final Presidential
run-off.

Mr Griffin's aim is to transform the BNP into a similar party, an
organisation that people regard as the acceptable face of nationalism,
standing up for "ordinary" British people. Having a ballerina in their
ranks is a measure of how perceptions of his party have changed.



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