Anarchists Fixing Potholes in Roads in Portland, Oregon

March 14, 2017

Vic Bishop, Staff Writer
Waking Times

Over one half of every tax dollar we give to Uncle Sam is spent on ‘defense,’ yet anytime a free-thinker questions the need to be ruled by a giant, bloated, corrupt government, the argument is that we need government because we need roads.

Public infrastructure is in serious neglect, though, and to set an example of this disconnect between reality and fantasy, a group of Portland anarchists has established a group which fixes potholes in public roads without notifying the government, and without using public taxes.

    • From the ‘about’ section on their Facebook page:

    “Because we believe in building community solutions to the issues we face, outside of the state.
    Because society portrays anarchists as only breaking windows and blocking roads.
    Because when faced with anarchism as a political theory, states often ask ‘But who will fix the roads?’
    Because the city of Portland refuses to adequately repair roads in a timely manner.

    We are Portland Anarchist Road Care. We believe in community oriented direct action. We believe the state cares more about funding a militarized police force to suppress free speech than caring for and repairing the roads.

    The city of Portland has shown gross negligence in its inadequate preventative care through this winter’s storms, and through its slow repair of potholes as weather has improved. Daily, this negligence is an active danger to cyclists and causes damage to people’s automobiles, and an increased risk of collision and bodily injury.

    Portland Anarchist Road Care aims to mobilize crews throughout our city, in our neighborhoods, to patch our streets, build community, and continue to find solutions to community problems outside of the state.” [Source]

    Declaring itself as a political organization, the group considers this type of basic road repair by members of the local community to be a political action, highlighting the fact that we live in a time where the state has taken over many areas of shared society which have historically been managed by members of the community.

    “PARC takes the state of the roads of PDX into the hands of the people. State neglect has caused the streets to fall into disrepair. We will fix the streets.” [Source]

    The state inserts itself into every mundane and communal area of life, so it will be interesting see how the government handles citizens doing basic work such as this. Will Portland treat this group as many cities are treating groups who feed the homeless? Will the government outlaw fixing potholes by saying that it is not safe for people other than government to do such work? Will they call it vandalism? Will the people who are doing this be arrested for taking matters in to their own hands?

    Anarchism is the idea that people can create and maintain societies without the presence of organized, bureaucratic government. What do you think, is this possible in our world today?

    Read more articles by Vic Bishop.

    About the Author

    Vic Bishop is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and OffgridOutpost.com Survival Tips blog. He is an observer of people, animals, nature, and he loves to ponder the connection and relationship between them all. A believer in always striving to becoming self-sufficient and free from the matrix, please track him down on Facebook.

    Like Waking Times on Facebook. Follow Waking Times on Twitter.

    This article (Anarchists Fixing Potholes in Roads in Portland, Oregon) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Vic Bishop and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement. Please contact WakingTimes@gmail.com for more info. 

    ~~ Help Waking Times to raise the vibration by sharing this article with friends and family…


    No, thanks!

    -->