David Clow and Green Party leader Elizabeth May
Four years ago, before I started my investigation into activist militancy and violence, had someone told me that Elizabeth May’s Green Party was part of the problem I wouldn’t have believed it. But then I discovered that May claimed that “breaking windows isn’t violent” after the G20, I watched as May implied that the RCMP planted guns and explosives at an anti-fracking protest in New Brunswick, and how the Greens recently backed a harebrained claim that the RCMP were planning “mass arrests” of a handful of protesters at the Unist’ot’en Camp.
Based on first impressions, the Niagara-Centre candidate David Clow looks like the perfect match for the Greens. He’s flown around the world in the name of saving the environment, and has a creepy fixation with the police. He’s been everywhere you don’t want to be including the 2010 G20 protests, Occupy Toronto, the Unist’ot’en Camp, worked with the Costa Rica chapter of Sea Shepherd, and has filmed one of the best first-hand videos of the Vancouver 2011 hockey riots I’ve seen.
That said, after researching Clow a bit further, I’m led to wonder- is it possible he’s perhaps a bit too extreme and disloyal even for Elizabeth May? Not only is his mentor as the leader of an end-of-the-world cult who promotes blowing up dams, but he’s made a posting on his Facebook page calling for people outside of his riding to vote for Trudeau and the Liberals. Oh yes, and he’s declared the only authority he trusts and recognizes on earth is the head of the violent thugs at the Unist’ot’en Camp.
Eco-terrorism guru Derrick Jensen with David Clow
Clow’s hero and mentor Derrick Jensen is the leader of the Deep Green Resistance, an end-of-the-world cult that claims the only way to save the earth is to sabotage and destroy infrastructure. Jensen promotes his followers to blow up dams and power lines, calling people who do so “heroes” and demanding that his followers support their actions and not talk to the police.
If you’ve not seen my Worst of Derrick Jensen video I made in 2012 I recommend you take a quick look, he’s a scary man:
Continuing The Tradition Of Green Party Anti-Cop Creepiness..
Clow self-identifies as an anti-authoritarian and an anarchist, like many in his subculture – much like Elizabeth May – he often uses and creates conflicts with the police to “prove” his ideology. A great example was his recent wheelchair trip across BC protesting pipelines. Clow intentionally planned a conflict with the RCMP in the middle of his journey to help get more attention.
The video of the event shows just how little his protest was about the environment, and how focussed he was on embarrassing the cop and putting them in a challenging and (in my opinion) unfair situation- having to arrest “the guy in the wheelchair”:
Clow described the reasoning for his attack in another Facebook posting saying:
“Do I have a disrespect for authority? Of course! Don’t you? Someone commented on my video with the cops saying that she could not watch the video beyond the 13 minute mark due to my insolent treatment of the police, as she suspected that my disrespect for the police authority translated into a disrespect for all authority.”
It sounds like Clow has some growing-up to do.
Green Party MP candidate calls RCMP “silly men in silly blue suits”.
Speaking Of Having Some Growing-Up To Do!
Wait, I thought he was a candidate for the Greens?
On January 21st Clow posted a plea on his Facebook page for his followers to “Vote for the Liberal candidate in the next election, unless you are in my riding.” Showing a picture of himself beside Justin Trudeau, Clow claimed “This man needs to be our next Prime Minister”. He follows this up with a statement indicating he’s willing to jump parties to whichever party wins the election.
But the truth of the matter, according to a video he posted in September 2014, is that he doesn’t appear to trust either Elizabeth May or Justin Trudeau. He claims in the above video that the only person who he trusts as an “authority” and the “only guy I trust anymore” is Werner Naziel (Togesty) of the Unist’ot’en camp (a group who run around threatening pipeline workers they’ll forcefully “confiscate” their equipment”). The Unist’ot’en camp has been a focus of the RCMP’s extremism specialists since at least 2010.
Not So Good Greens
Thre are a few things we can learn from Clow’s campaign. First, the Green party harbours some seriously messed-up extremists. Next, they’re not really a serious party, Clow isn’t running for the Greens, he’s running for himself- and promoting Justin.
The Green Party has been contacted for comment on if their policy allows candidates to promote voting for an opposing party leader. I’ve also asked about their opinion on Clow’s relationship with eco-extremist Derrick Jensen. It will be interesting to see how they respond to this- just how extreme and anti-social of a candidate is Elizabeth May willing to tolerate?
The email I sent to the Greens has been read 98 times already (and counting), must have made a stir, still no answer…
