Back in the mid-90s, I had a job working at a Honeybaked Ham store here in the Seattle area (don’t ask-but if you want the whole sordid tale, I wrote about it here). Normally, I wouldn’t even bring that little factoid up, but…funny story. Well, not “ha-ha” funny, but it does tie in with this week’s review. Because you see, that was when I had my personal brush with “eco-terrorism”. I came to work one day, and was surprised to see a couple of Redmond’s finest standing outside the store, talking to the manager. Then I noticed some interesting new artwork adorning the windows, writ large in dried ketchup and barbeque sauce: MEAT IS MURDER! It was signed “E.L.F.”. According to the cops, several other restaurants down the street had also been “hit” during the night (the McDonald’s also had their locks glued shut). So, as I was scrubbing to remove the graffiti, I wondered “Who is this ‘ELF’ prankster, anyway? A disgruntled Keebler employee?” I had never heard of the Earth Liberation Front. I remember the manager saying “How much you want to bet this guy fled in a pair of pricey leather Nikes?” “Yeah,” I snickered, whilst contemplating the dried Heinz on my sponge “these suburban anarchists aren’t exactly the Baader-Meinhof Gang, are they?” (I can’t say that I felt “terrorized”). Flash-forward to 2001. I turned on the local news one night, and saw the UW Center for Urban Horticulture engulfed in flames ($7 million in damage). The arson was attributed to the E.L.F. “Hmmm,” I pondered, “maybe they are sort of like the Baader-Meinhof Gang, after all.”
Or are they? According to the FBI definition, “eco-terrorism” is “the use (or threatened use) of violence of a criminal nature against people or property by an environmentally oriented, sub-national group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.” That certainly covers a lot of ground. You could, for instance, argue that Johnny Appleseed was an eco-terrorist. Sure, he’s a legendary conservationist, agrarian icon and all that. However, he was against grafting, which resulted in a fruit more suitable for making hard cider than for eating. Hence, the “environmentally-oriented” Mr. Appleseed was responsible for introducing alcohol to the American frontier. And we all know how much “violence of a criminal nature against people or property” is committed under the influence. OK, that’s a bit of a stretch to make a point. Then again, there are a number of “environmentally-oriented” types doing a “bit of a stretch” in the federal pen right now for non-lethal actions that the government considers terrorism and that others consider heroic. This is not a black and white issue; a point not lost on the directors of If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.
So what type of circumstance can change a nature lover into a freedom fighter? Anyone can “make a statement” by holding up a sign or throwing on a “Save the Rainforest” t-shirt, but what motivates someone who decides to take it to the next level-throwing on a Ninja outfit and torching a lumber mill in the middle of the night? And what would they hope to achieve? Wouldn’t that just encourage corporations to cut down even more trees to replace lost inventory? In order to convey a sense of the humanity behind the cold mug shots, co-directors Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman focus primarily on Earth Liberation Front member Daniel McGowan, who at the time of filming was facing a possible life sentence for his direct involvement in several high-profile “actions” (including the arson of an Oregon lumber mill) that resulted in millions of dollars in property damage. Holed up in his sister’s NYC apartment (and sporting a house arrest anklet for the first third of the film), McGowan candidly opens up about his life and what led him to change his own M.O. for “making a statement” from “environmental activism” to “domestic terrorism”.
The filmmakers use the timeline and details of McGowan’s personal journey as entre (no pun intended) into a parallel study about the development of the E.L.F. itself, adding present day interviews with several of his cohorts and archive footage of some of the group’s early “actions” (which were more in the realm of civil disobedience and passive resistance-like sitting in the path of bulldozers and camping out in old-growth trees marked for cutting). McGowan initially became involved with the environmental movement through more “mainstream” activities, like “writing hundreds of letters” of protest and participating in peaceful demonstrations. Eventually, however, McGowan became frustrated with what he perceived to be the general ineffectiveness of such actions. He sums it up with a rhetorical question: “When you’re screaming at the top of your lungs, and nobody hears you, what are you supposed to do?” The tipping point for McGowan came in 1999, when he participated in the WTO protests in Seattle. There, through some of the more radicalized E.L.F. members, he became embedded with the relatively small band of black-clad “anarchists” who were disproportionately responsible for most of the actual property damage that occurred during the demonstrations (and from whom the majority of other participants made a point of disassociating themselves from). From there, it was a relatively small jump to the more extreme acts that would lead to his eventual arrest and prosecution (he agreed to a “non-cooperation” plea deal that saved him from life in prison but still saddled him with 7 years and a “terrorism enhancement”).
There’s more than one side to any story, and the filmmakers do give a fair bit of balance to the proceedings by giving equal screen time to some of the law enforcement officials and prosecutors who tracked down and made the case against McGowan and his associates. Although no one was ever injured or killed as a result of E.L.F. activity (fairly astounding considering that there were approximately 1,200 “actions” perpetrated by the group during their heyday), there are still victims; and some of them appear on camera as well to offer their perspective. Were these people “terrorists”? There are no easy answers. You almost have to get back to defining “what is a terrorist?” Or in this specific case, some might ask, who are the real terrorists? As one interviewee challenges, “95% of the native American forests have been cut down. Trying to save the remaining 5% is ‘radical’?” A valid question, to be sure. McGowan himself seems to be arguing (in so many words) that in a post 9-11 world, most people have a tendency to make a “rush to judgment” without even remotely considering the alternate point of view (he suggests that the word “terrorist” has supplanted “Communist” as the demagogue’s top buzz word of choice). I wonder if the filmmakers intend McGowan’s story to be a kind of self-administered litmus test for the viewer (how far out on the limb would you be willing to go for your personal convictions?) If so, that’s a tough one. Part of me certainly identifies with Daniel McGowan the environmentally-conscious idealist; but I don’t think I can quite get behind Daniel McGowan the criminal arsonist. For now, I’m just content to keep recycling and doing my part to think “glocal”. Oh yeah…and I haven’t stepped foot in a Honeybaked Ham store since I quit working there 14 years ago. Murderous bastards.
Note: The film is in limited release, but is slated to pop up sometime later this year as part of PBS’s excellent “P.O.V” documentary series. As they say- “Check your listings”!
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