Interview With Prisoner Chris McIntosh
author: Disgruntled Elephant Distribution
 e-mail: disgruntledelephant@riseup.net
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A 2006 interview with Chris conducted through the mail. F**KING BRUTAL
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Fall 2006 Interview with Chris McIntosh - Political Prisoner
This is for mother Earth, mother fuckers Burn!
The following interview was conducted through the mail (U.S.P.S.) in fall of 2006. Chris McIntosh is a political prisoner serving an 8 year sentence for a joint ELF/ALF arson attack on a McDonalds restaurant in Seattle WA.
WOF - World on Fire
CM - Chris McIntosh
WOF - Please tell us a little about yourself. What was your life like prior to the action and your following imprisonment? When and how did your (anti)political views form?
CM - A Little about myself... well I'm vegetarian, an anarchist, I'm really into literature and flowers and plants. I'm 24 from South Jersey and been incarcerated for about 20 months. Prior to my action and imprisonment I pretty much just freewheeled around the country... hitching most of the country up to the point of my arrest in `05. I became an anarchist in ninth grade when I was 14 or 15. I wasn't really active but felt a deep kinship to the ideology. Then after some stuff going on at home and a total disillusionment with life in high school and society in general I dropped out and went to California... But that was the seed... I always have had a thirst for knowledge and my views have evolved over time though many life experiences. Yeah, I'd say the lessons my eyes and heart taught me were of infinitely higher value than anything you would read... it's all before your eyes... it's just about choosing to see it...
WOF - Explain the action(s) you are doing time for. Explain your court proceedings.
CM - Well as you know this arson took place in 2003 and was claimed by the ELF/ALF... I committed it and feel no regret. The only regret is that I didn't have better materials to work with. I was squatting at the time under a highway on Capitol Hill and storing the materials for the arson in an alleyway. The Feds were sure I got the money form some source but the humorous truth is I panhandled the money for the gas. So if you were walking Broadway a couple days prior and you gave me some change, chances are you helped fund me.
Anyway, I didn't want to target a McDonalds in the middle of nowhere because I didn't have a whole lot to work with. It's not like Terminator, its hard sometimes to burn things down.
I ended up choosing the McDonalds across from the Space Needle as the prime target. A really great McDonalds to hit because it's the heart of the city... a lot of people were going to see it.
So the night of the arson I ended up on the roof. I remember there being people in the parking lot and all around the area. The clubs were just letting out. I remember seeing cops circling the area... this was definitely counting coup... I was deep in enemy territory and it was going to be tricky to get away. I started pouring gas... it was quite a bit. I lit it and my words were "this is for mother Earth mother fuckers Burn!" Then I was jumping down the access ladder. I remember there were a bunch of clubbers in the parking lot and as I ran past them this typical club-girl screamed "oh my god, he burned McDonalds" in a way as if I had just crucified Jesus. It was really funny. I was to find out later it was like a 20 foot sheet of flame... and also a cop had just pulled up to the corner as the fire shot up to the sky. But I was off and running not too be caught till two years later. I ran from the McDonalds to Broadway and crashed in my alleyway listening to the sirens blaring as my heart beat furiously.
I don't like to talk much about the court proceedings but what I will say is I got railroaded because of snitches not leaving me any out but to take a foul "deal"
WOF - Do you feel that you achieved your goal in the aftermath of the action?
CM - Did I achieve my goal? Well yeah I did because my goal was too turn theory into action. To break that barrier that separates us all. The ultimate empowerment of actually being able to do something was mine. Some may say the action itself wasn't that great but I feel I made an impact. Like I said if I had better materials I would have used them. I counted coup on the heart of the city amongst the pigs against the figurehead of the malignant corporate elite.
WOF - Has prison life radicalized you more so than before your incarceration?
CM - Pri$on life especially this being the highest security prison just below A.D.X. (the home of the Unabomber) is crazy. I know I've become more focused and mature in my radical nature... my anger becoming focused in tight beams rather than spilling over into every facet of my life.
Yes, yes it has. The everyday drama of prison life, of the insanity rampant amongst your everyday existence imbues you with a cold resolve where anything is possible. I've become capable of doing anything to free me and mine. I don't give a fuck about moral restrictions and I don't give a fuck about how my actions in defense are viewed by others. What I have undergone and what I am undergoing is the wall at my back. Its made this extremely serious. The black flag is my life, Ill die for it and the chance at freedom... we've got nothing to loose.
WOF - Do you feel that environmental activists/anarchists in the U.S. pose any serious threat to the current order? If so, in what ways? What do you believe are our weaknesses and strengths?
CM - In this present incarnation we don't pose a threat... you really have to take it to the wall to pose any serious threat. We've all seen different theaters of resistance where tactics are being used without a regard to tired moral arguments against them with success. These are the tactics we have to adopt if we want freedom and a clean world to grow our children.
Our greatest weaknesses are the pacifist liberals among us... and the attachment to the same ineffective forms of American Resistance. Everything must evolve to survive and become stronger... and so must we... how bad do we want it.
WOF - When will we say enough is enough (or Fuck It)?
CM - Good question. Hopefully it'll be before their pulling you out from under your ol lady in the middle of the night, heh, heh.
WOF - What is wrong with the human race? Where did we go wrong?
CM - We don't know ourselves... we no longer see the framework behind everything that's connecting us to everything else. I used to hate people... now I'm not with that anymore... people are just lost. I don't really have the answer to this, just an impression... the important things in life just aren't priorities anymore. Family strength, taking time with your love on a sunny day, telling your children cultural stories just isn't present on the scale that it must be within this industrial society. I'm a man who looks to the strength of family as the backbone of any community. Technology has raped, murdered, and replaced cultural identity... and that's the problem as I see it.
WOF - Who are your favorite authors and bands?
CM - Some of my favorite authors are Chuck Palahniuk without a doubt, Charles Bukowski, Borroughs and that whole crowd. I'm into 20th century literature scene stuff like that. But seriously I'm into reading so many different things I could take up pages getting into that. Musically I'm into punk rock bands like Crass, Destroy, Born/Dead, Subhumans, ect. I love Reggae... just about anything but country or pop.
WOF - Favorite places you visited while traveling/squatting?
CM - I've got to keep it real and represent my favorite place to squat is Philly. Outdoors wise I really, really love the Red Woods but also Franconia Notch in New Hampshire.
WOF - How do you spend most days?
CM - I try to keep a real tight positive program. It makes the time pass quickly. I do yoga three times a week and I workout hard six times a week. This is a very serious environment and staying fit could mean the difference between life and death. I read and write letters, read plenty of books on just about everything. They've got me in the paint shop, having a job is mandatory and it was this or the kitchen. I don't want to be around meat. I don't really do any work though, the rest of the time is spent hangin out on the yard with the homies. On of them being fellow political prisoner Tom Manning of the Ohio 7. A real good dude... real solid.
WOF - If humans were to destroy the systems of confinement, a true revolt, what do you believe would happen next? What should happen next?
CM - Well I believe we'd have to struggle against the wolves in sheep's clothing who would like to see themselves in control and it's quite likely these would arise from the movement itself... Ideally though over time things would become more and more balanced. What should happen next is communities tighten and become the cooperatives their meant to be, this is my dream for the true revolt... Guess all you can do is hope for 7's and 11's.
WOF- What type of actions should anarchists in the United States be currently pursuing?
CM- Any action that effectively eliminates a perpetrator of this cultures domination of all life.
WOF- What do you believe the "week points" of this death culture are? How should we go about bringing on industrial/techno collapse? Or do you think civilization will eat itself?
CM- I truly believe that it will collapse on its own. Because it has to die as a viable option in peoples minds as it dies out as a present reality... People love struggle and will fight to bring it back if they don't stop believing in this false culture first.
WOF- With a past in the squatting and traveling movement what are your views regarding the national freight system (hauling trains)?
CM- To tell you the truth, oddly enough I've never hopped freight trains... I've always wanted to, but for one reason or another haven't. I hitched everywhere though my thoughts on it though are if you shut it down and gas prices rise too high for trucking companies to operate this culture at least America will collapse, it would be very interesting. heh heh
WOF- What are your plans after your release?
CM- Well I plan on getting back to the streets runnin. A pack a dog... the street squatting scene was mine when I was arrested. I look forward to returning to it. The open road... crashin in abando's in Philly... Baltimore... drinkin a few beers. But I plan on bringing the youth up in such a way as to make Anarchists a threat again. I'm by no means broken and I realize that I have a responsibility to myself and all life in general to never break weak. And that since I'm capable of what others aren't. I have to utilize those capabilities to the fullest. I plan on havin a lot of fucking fun shoving every second of these 8 years down their thoughts and watchin them turn blue while they choke on it... heh heh. I plan on takin time to kick it with all the folks who have been supporting me... plenty of fuckin parties and catchin up on the shows I've missed... and well you can fill in the blanks...
WOF - How can those of us that support you help your situation from the outside?
CM - Just keep writing. It may take me a while to get back to you but I try. Funds for stamps are appreciated. Those can be sent to my lockbox and also I can always use books. There's not much to pick up in here.
WOF - What are your views regarding the "Green Scare" and snitchery?
CM - The Green Scare... in every war people should be scared but the spirit and heart of resistance should carry us though this. We are fighting for life not money not fame, not anything superficial. Were fighting for our children, we shall prevail.
Snitches are the worst kind of lost in the many genres of lost. The weak who wanted to stand for something and maybe even did but then when it came time to face the hardest part broke, weak displaying their lack of sincerity and betraying the strong... it's disgusting... it breaks your heart. In my own case Ill spend the next 5 years separated from the open road because of these scum. I came in at 23 Ill be 30, because of these weak spineless wastes of life. The thing about snitches is that every warrior in the ELF/ALF and other resistance groups probably has a similar story being separated from the ones they love, the places they love and the things they love to do and thrown into this concrete monster. All I and everyone else can do is remain stronger than them and keep fighting for the day we know peace and once again feel the warmth of our lovers embrace. Please write Chris McIntosh. Letters make his day and mean more than you will ever know. Send him a letter at:
Chris McIntosh # 30512-013
U.S. Penitentiary - Hazelton
P.O. Box 2000
Bruceton Mills, WV 26525
Chris depends almost exclusively on donations from the activist community to provide him with much needed supplies in prison, as well as minimal comforts. Commissary donations also allow him to purchase stamps, envelopes, phone cards (in January 2007) and extra Vegan food, as well as other necessities. To make a donation directly into Chris' commissary, please send money orders ONLY with Chris' full name and register number on the money order to:
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Christopher McIntosh
30512-013
Post Office Box 474701
Des Moines, Iowa 50947-0001
Donations for Chris (however small or large) can be sent to his support group at:
Chris McIntosh Support Fund
PO Box 8943
Collingswood, NJ 08108
For more information and updates check out: www.supportchris.org
This interview was conducted through the mail in fall of 2006 by World on Fire and Disgruntled Elephant Distribution. Please reproduce and distribute.
Disgruntled Elephant Distribution
P.O. Box 41416
Des Moines IA 50311
 disgruntledelephant@riseup.net
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