On this episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we spoke with an organizer from El Grito de Sunset Park and Asamblea de Pueblo NYC about the evolving situation on the ground in Puerto Rico following hurricanes Irma and Maria.
We discuss the collapse of the State following the impact of the storms as well as the growth of mutual aid organizing and autonomous disaster relief efforts. This organizing grew through the Centers for Mutual Aid and the creation and appropriation of autonomous infrastructure. We then discuss the insurrection that arose in the summer of 2019 which was followed by the formation of popular assemblies that carried with them the same spirit of self-organization that evolved out of disasters of 2017.