It would be interesting to have a British solicitor weigh in on this discussion. Does anyone here know one who might be willing to participate?

I know that in the US, the newspaper's actions would undoubtedly be protected by the free press clause of our First Amendment.

Thanks to my colleagues for patiently explaining that my earlier post referred to the likely breach of contract for an unauthorised interview, as discussed all along. Just to reiterate: even if Clarke has breached contract, I hope she is not dismissed.

As has emerged, there is a gulf between the the BNP's public statements and manifesto, and the actual views held by party officials and representatives ie Holocaust denial, "no mixed race children" etc etc. Now this hidden agenda is out in the open, my hope is that Clarke finally realises the extremist nature of the organisation she has helped to promote and voluntarily resigns from the BNP.

A legal beagle's bite may be worse than his bark.

Biting that bark or bullet as one may,

let us restate the facts here, YET AGAIN.

Whatever our own opinions may be, the BNP is, at the present time, a LEGAL party.

Regret as one does that Thatcherism have created the social and economic breakdown conditions where a plague like the BNP may spread, for the TIME BEING, it is a legal party.

Miss Clarke has therefore done nothing illegal in joining it.

Unlike the members of the Bolshoi, the Maryinskii and the POB, she is NOT a civil servant.

She is therefore under no duty of discretion, absolute or otherwise.

Jusqu'à nouvel ordre, the law of the land has primacy over the law of private contract. Breach of contract would not make her a criminal.

(En passant, one might note here that M. Hervé Moreau, étoile, gave an interview last year where he endorsed, if diplomatically, the student demonstrations against the new "Kleenex Tissue employment contract", known as the CPE. In THEORY, that is probably a breach of the civil servant's duty of absolute discretion. In PRACTICE, I would imagine that said "breach" was simply ignored by Management, and by his responsible Ministry, as a legitimate expression of personal OPINION).

Miss Clarke did not "out" herself - she was "outed" by The Guardian newspaper, in reckless disregard of the eventual consequences to the lady, who can hardly be called a major political figure - although The Guardian has certainly done its damndest to make her one.

A dreadful event occurred in the Middle East in the early hours of the morning of December 30th. If we all want to get on our high moral horse and talk about human rights, natural law, or - just for starters - international public law, we might want to ponder the implications of that event, FIRST.

Rather than wriggle, squiggle and lie, Miss Clarke decided to tough it out to the press.

Again, jusqu'à nouvel ordre, she has committed no crime. Allow one to suggest that we all call off the dogs, and refrain from affording that ridiculous organisation, the BNP, the pleasure of unpaid publicity.

Given that ENB relies heavily on donations for its financial survival, I think dancers should show better discretion as to what political parties they support – whether openly or in secret. Seriously, this whole issue is stupid. I don’t care if it’s legal. Let’s say this happened in my area for the NBoC, why should I support a company, which allows a dancer to align herself with a fascist unpopular political party?

Companies who rely on the public for charitable support should avoid the above at all costs.



By giving to ENB, like it or not, you are in a small way supporting this fascist party through Simone Clarke’s salary should she provide the party financial support.

that's a slightly ridiculous point.

her financial contribution, thus far and as far as we know, is a mere £25, the membership fee. ENB is a large organisation with over 60 dancers and this issue should not affect the entire company and probably won't.

it is also not the place of a dance company or its management to determine which political party their dancers can and cannot support, openly or otherwise.

it's also nobody else's concern outside of the company which political party Simone Clarke is a member of, were it not for the Guardian and their slightly sensationalist reporting about this you would never have known and the world would have kept turning.

If I'm thinking of the right paper, the Guardian is liberal - and refreshingly so - but hardly sensationalist.

Had Ms. Clarke not reacted to the article, it may well have faded into the background. As Kanter points out, lots more important things were happening and the public generally has a pretty short attention span.

Where I think Clarke has gone wrong - and may well have violated the terms of her contract - is in then giving an interview to one of low-class, sensationalist papers in UK (The Daily Mail or some such rag). That kept the story in the news and resulted in her actual views on the subject material being broadcast. Up 'til then, all we knew is that she was a BNP member, which would imply, but certainly not confirm or detail her political views.

Whilst she may have been naive about the consequences of her actions in giving the interview, she has no-one but herself to blame for what happened once she opened her mouth. Had she gone to the PR people at the ENB, who are trained in dealing with the press, or even to a lawyer, she could have gotten assistance in dealing with an uncomfortable situation in a tactful and dignified way. (I suspect the reporters from the other papers targeted her at home and basically preyed on a naive woman who doesn't have much political or press savvy.)

As I've said before, I don't feel her political views have any bearing on her dancing, but contracts are contracts.

Kate

As far as I’m concerned, it was £25 too much! I bet you the wacko political party she’s supporting is absolutely loving all the free publicity. She should have known better. Great point by Ksneds:

The context of this discussion has taken a further twist with developments at the European Parliament (EP). With the entry of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU, the neo-fascist parties, with Members of the EP elected under a proportional representation system, now qualify for:

- recognition as an official political grouping
- 1m Euros per year funding
- Chair of at least one EP committee

More information from The Independent:

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2157360.ece

There is no doubt that this is a major step forward for a despiccable group that would be likely to include the BNP if they ever get an MEP elected.

I'm pleased that the Guardian revealed the conspiratorial nature of the BNP, at least part of their covert agenda and that Clarke is a member. Just as I boycott goods etc from countries with policies that I abhor, I will avoid her performances while she remains a member, while continuing to support ENB. As the American dancers, such as Martha Graham, who refused the invitation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics knew, politics and the arts cannot be separated.

I’m shocked and saddened to read the news. Personally, I would boycott any business/company/institution, which employed members of such a political party. They said it would never happen again and here we go…. The seeds have been planted and they are sprouting hate.

Just for the record the BNP have support from a mere 7% of the UK electorate - not enough to enable them to secure a seat in parliament in our 'first past the post' system. The one British MEP that is part of this new EU right-wing grouping is an Independent who according to today's papers was kicked out of UKIP for benefit fraud. Have no idea what policies he advocated that got him elected. Sadly eastern European countries tend to harbour right wing views, one of the reasons many of us had reservations about EU enlargement.

In the UK we have always had a number of unelectable political parties from the far right to the far left, there is also a Monster Raving Loonie party (google them for a laugh). In the present political climate I expect them all to do better than usual as people register protest votes at the next election.

Whoever said she should have known better, I agree. She should have. And now she will. I hope it does not cost her her career.

Interesting perspective from Equity in The Stage:

The Stage

I agree with the union's stance. She should not be barred from making a living based on her political beliefs. I also think the protesters have a right to protest. That is what democracy is all about.

If however she is found in breach of contract for giving an unauthorized interview then the company has a right to sack her.

I am so curious about her justifications for joining this party are though. How does she reconcile her obvious acceptance of inter-racial relationships with the obvious disapproval of this from her party? Did the party know about the biracial child?

I understand her frustration with immigration laws. Dealing with the American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as part of my job made me realize that the American laws are deeply flawed and in desparate need of change. I wonder if in her role as an union deputy she experienced similar frustrations and that led her to seek out a party that she thought could do something about it. Her choice seems, however, misguided at best.

Still carrying an Austrian passport, I just wanted to provide this bit of information and possibly adjust a sometimes warranted but often exaggerated view on Austrian extremism. The European Parliament far-right political group “Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty Group” consists of a total of 20 members, 7 members from France, 5 from Rumania, 3 from Belgium, 2 from Italy and 1 each from Austria, Bulgaria and UK.

Thanks Michael for the reminder that far-right election successes can be reversed. Wikipedia has some interesting information on the Austrian experience:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Party_of_Austria



There was shock around Europe at this result and the heads of government of the other 14 EU members for a period decided to cease cooperation with the Austrian government.

After political in-fighting, the FPÖ vote dropped to 6% in the European Parliament election of 2004, resulting in the 1 seat mentioned by Michael. However, in late 2005, they took 15% of the vote in elections in Vienna and in 2006, 11% in national elections.

The ENB/Clarke story has died down in the UK for the present, as "Celebrity Big Brother" and the racist or culturally insensitive bullying of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty dominates our media. Mark Lawson comments on this new cause celebre in The Guardian, where you can also find a host of items on this story, which lead the TV News I saw yesterday evening:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/ ... 08,00.html