Directors: Marshall Curry,
Sam Cullman
Writers: Matthew Hamachek,
Marshall Curry
Starring: Daniel McGowan
A big question in the final
moments of the documentary “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation
Front” is, what is terrorism? There are a lot of talking heads in the movie
explaining how “most people” see terrorism as an act of violence against
another person or group of people. The movie tells the story of Daniel McGowan,
who pled guilty to two counts of arson in the Eugene, Oregon area. He set the
fires as a member of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an environmental
activist organization that committed many acts of “eco-terrorism” against various
companies they saw as committing atrocities against nature.
McGowan committed the crimes
and openly admits to it and other crimes done under the ELF banner in this
incredibly in depth documentary that looks at the ELF and the motivations
behind so called eco-terrorism in general. The film is incredibly detailed with
the ELF’s history, practices, and ideology. It’s also an incredibly fair
documentary that looks at both sides of the issue with equal measure, although
its focus is on McGowan and the legal situation his actions got him into. It
surprising how many people involved on each side the filmmakers were able to
get to agree to appear in the film.
But, back to the question of
terrorism. McGowan’s sentence carries with it a “terrorism enhancement” that
classifies his arson, in which no people were injured, as an act of terrorism.
He’s required to serve out his sentence in a special federal maximum-security
prison built after 9/11 for the purpose of holding convicted terrorists. I
don’t believe that an act of terrorism is necessarily an act of violence
against a person or group of people. The destruction McGowan wrecked on the
companies’ properties he set ablaze did terrorize the owners and employees of
those companies. However, he did not willfully or even actually physically
injure anybody in his acts. So does he deserve the same treatment as those
responsible for 9/11 or the Oklahoma City bombing?
His “terrorism enhancement”
smells more like the work of the number pushers who are trying to justify laws
against our civil liberties with conviction stats as opposed to actual justice.
McGowan is paying the price for his crimes. Why should he also pay the price
for other peoples’ ideologies lumped in with his own? His crime was arson, not
murder on a mass scale. Even some of the law enforcement agents responsible for
his arrest question the validity of such a ruling.
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