In California, environmental activists released wild horses at a remote government holding facility. In this video, children re-interpret this action in a room where the desert has been painted on. The kids substitute pet dogs for wild horses.
Here 5 actors narrate (ranging from a raver/informant to the voice of dreamers from other totalitarian realms). Thus Sweet Cowardice begins as an oblique introduction to just how the Patriot Act impacts American Environmental Activists. Yet, it becomes, more specifically, an exploration of how we, as citizens, fail to resist the Patriot Act.
Charged in the Name of Terror: portraits by contemporary artists, a series of experimental documentaries produced by Paul Chan, investigates the Patriot Act and its impact on traditional American activism.
The purported 'War on Terror' continues to expand its field of vision; consequently environmentalists are now included within the ranks of suspected terrorists. 'The Green Scare' as it is most commonly referred to, consists of several loosely interconnected and independent environmental actions that are now being tried and prosecuted under the Patriot Act as a form of domestic terrorism. Many, with no prior criminal record and without having physically harmed any human being, are now sentenced as 'terrorists.'
At this point, what appears most alarming is that many have been awarded sentences that are above and beyond the legal length of sentencing for these specific acts at the time they were committed. In other words, activists committed actions knowing the exact legal repercussions. The Patriot Act overrides pre-existing laws for crimes committed before its inception. It sets a legal precedent. So that if as concerned citizens we choose to protest what appears to be a breach of justice (taking into account that we knowingly may serve an ordained amount of time in jail), we may find ourselves prosecuted within a framework that never existed when we made our decision to resist perceived injustice.
Primarily recorded in Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon. Post-production sound by Julia Shirar.