Posted on 01/13/2007 2:39:40 PM PST by Pharmboy
In this file photo Simone Clarke (L) adjusts her ballet
shoe ribbons as she stands beside a guard before at
Buckingham Palace in London, December 14, 2004.
Protestors staged a noisy protest on Friday outside a
London theater where Clarke is performing. The English
National Ballet's principal dancer was named
in a newspaper last month as a member of the
British National Party (BNP), a minority anti-
immigration party. (Ben Gurr/The Times/Pool/Reuters)
Around 50 protesters shouting the slogan "Ballet not bigotry!" staged a noisy protest on Friday outside a London theater where a ballerina and member of a far-right British political party was performing.
The demonstration outside the Coliseum threatened to upset the genteel world of pirouettes and arabesques as Simone Clarke prepared to play the lead in the romantic classic "Giselle."
The performance itself was briefly interrupted by a handful of protesters in the audience, but they were quickly bundled out of the auditorium and the show continued.
The English National Ballet's principal dancer was named in a newspaper last month as a member of the British National Party (BNP), a minority anti-immigration party.
Campaign group Unite Against Fascism called for Clarke, 36, to stand down, saying she has been used to "promote and prettify extreme right-wing politics."
"There is no place for fascist ideas in the arts," said Donna Guthrie, 36, a campaigner for the group. "We're calling on her to resign from the party or leave the company."
Thirty police lined the street outside the theater as ballet-goers arrived for the afternoon show. Most patrons expressed support for Clarke, calling the protest undemocratic.
"They talk about their freedom, but what about ours?," said secretary June Mitchell, 58. "She shouldn't stand down because of her political beliefs."
But one patron returned her 20 pound ($39) ticket to the box office in protest at Clarke's membership of the party.
"I couldn't go in there and clap and enjoy the performance, knowing that she is a member of a fascist organization," said Judy Chan, 62. "I'd rather lose the money."
With the approach of curtain-up, protesters drifted away, leaving fewer than 20 outside.
NO REGRETS
Clarke has refused to back down.
"I will be known as the BNP ballerina. I think that will stick with me for life," she told the Mail on Sunday newspaper. "I would rather it wasn't like that but I don't regret anything. I will stay a member.
"I have been labeled a racist and a fascist because I have a view on immigration -- and I mean mass immigration -- but isn't that something that a lot of people worry about?"
She said her partner Yat Sen-Chang, a dancer with Chinese-Cuban roots, had urged her to join the party. Clarke could not immediately be reached for comment.
Immigration has become one of Britain's key political issues, with mainstream parties pledging to tighten the borders. Political opponents say the BNP is racist. Opposition Conservative leader David Cameron has said its members "thrive on hate."
BNP member Richard Barnbrook was outside the theater, where he was greeted with shouts of "racist dog" and "Nazi scum."
"There's no reason why she should be ousted," he said. "She supports a legitimate political party."
The English National Ballet said it "fully supports the democratic right of people to mount a legal protest."
"Any personal view expressed by one of our employees should not be considered as endorsed by the company," it said.
(Additional reporting by Mike Collett-White)
And don't put words in my mouth: the only things I am defending are the positions I see on their site, whereas I could not defend one thing on the Aryan Nation's site.
Further, there are racist elements in the Republican and Democrat parties also, so get off your high horse.
And I will take your silence as nothing more than you have nothing to say. Buh-bye.
"Somebody buy that ballerina a drink!"
They don't find all discrimination wrong.
The BNP supports government funded "voluntary repatriation" to reduce or eliminate certain ethnic groups' numbers in Britain.
If your skin is white, you're not allowed to maintain heritage. It's the classical double-standard and there is nobody on this board who can justify that. I happen to support any group that advocates throwing radical islamists out of their country.
This is the shameless tactic of the left.
Ballet Bump!
LOL!
I'm laughing (over here) my ... ...!
You're the one who pinged me to a ballet thread!!
bookmark
Just to clarify the various points above: the BNP started out as an essentially neo-Nazi movement, but in recent times have attempted to moderate their policies and widen their membership in a bid to be seen as a legitimate, mainstream democratic party. To what extent these changes represent actual alterations in ideology or are just changes in 'window dressing' remains a topic of debate here in the UK (the mainstream political establishment and media over here tend to treat them as a quasi-facist/racist party to be denounced or exposed, rather than as a legitimate political movement).
Even having moderated their views somewhat, they are still explicit in their position that Britishness is a matter of race, and that they'd encourage non-whites to leave the UK. So to describe them as a racist party is not unreasonable. The extent of their 'fascism' is more open to debate.
Thank you for your information and clarifications...much appreciated. It sounds that they may have enough racialism left to make them repugnant to reasonable people.
Wow!
You do not mind the Muslim takeover of Kosovo and Bosnia, do you? What is wrong future Londonistan and EUrabia?
Get lost kid, you don't bother me enough to make it worth your time.
I meant to send this to you before...it just goes to show that Socialism/Leftist Lunacy doesn’t work!!! I just hope that our fellow Americans are not stupid enough to vote in one of the Socialist idiots running as “Democrats”. Are there any true Democrats left? Ha, pun intended, besides Lieberman, or are they all veering way off to the far left? Whatever happened to “Southern” or “Reagan” Democrats?
One of my best friends over here in England is a member of the BNP, and I have told him and others in the party (as I’m friends with several of them)that they would be considered Republicans in our Country, and that there is nothing wrong with that. The BNP is a legitimate Party and is gaining ground at lightning speed, due to the dismantling of “Great” Britain by Labour. I see the frustration of Middle England etched on peoples’ faces daily, as they’ve been tipped over edge by Political Correctness, far-left party tricks and liberal elitist cronyism. I can’t believe they’ve kept their stiff upper lip for this long, but May 4 in England will politically be a watershed moment. I wish I could vote over here, just to stick it to Labour, however I would never give up my American citizenship and right to stick it to the a-holes in my homeland!! The BNP is not going to gain power any time soon, but the fact that normal, regular, blue-collar ANGLO-SAXON BRITISH people are leaving Labour in droves and switching to the BNP should be a huge wake-up call for the power elite, and I hope it works!!! Right now, they’re kind of like a Jerry Brown or Ross Pee-rot type who can take votes from the main parties, I say: Go For It! Now, I’m not a racist and I abhore anyone who denies the Holocaust, however the BNP is gaining such mainstream support that those old horrible tags placed on them are fading fast with new moderate membership and they may be one of the only hopes left to save what we Americans cherish as “Merry Ol’ England” and “Great Britain” Cheerio, Chaps!! I had to get that off my chest...
To clarify: When I said “old tags placed upon them” I was not denying that the BNP started from a group of rag-tag Nazi thugs, however what I see over here is that it is transforming into a legitimate party that is trying to shake that image and become a true Conservative Party in Britain, (God knows the Tories aren’t), and I don’t agree with ALL of their policies, most of all stopping immigration! It’s just that Labour f-ckd up immigration so badly that it may be irreversible as far as the idiots they’ve already let in, namely idiots who refuse to assimilate and adapt to British values and blend into British society and adhere to Western values. I don’t think I have to name which group that is. I just wanted to clarify things. Emotions run high here. Sorry if I offended anyone, it was by no means meant.
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