More than 1.5 million people without potable water. Ninety percent of homes damaged. Eighty percent of crops destroyed. Broken sewer and electrical power systems. Food, fuel and medical supplies dwindling rapidly. Two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, the US territory is facing a social crisis of unprecedented proportions.

The leaders of both the Democratic and Republican Parties in the US have spent the last quarter century mobilizing trillions of dollars in manpower and equipment across the globe to pursue wars of aggression and global domination. However, in the face of the devastating destruction of Puerto Rico, the political establishment is incapable and unwilling to mobilize emergency aid to the territorial island of 3 million desperately vulnerable people.

Hundreds of billions of dollars are needed to save the lives of those at risk of death and disease and to rebuild and modernize infrastructure. Such efforts cannot be accomplished under capitalism. We proceed not from what the financial aristocracy says is affordable for disaster relief and rebuilding, but from what is necessary for the working class to secure its rights to the necessities of life.

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality fights for international socialism through the conscious, independent political mobilization of the working class. We encourage all students, youth, and workers to attend our meeting.