[NOTE] donations made through this page will go to the change.org, not Auroville

We, the undersigned members of the Auroville community and supporters from India and around the world, write to express our deep concern regarding the ongoing threat to the existence of the Auroville Youth Center, which has persisted since December 2021.

Background
For over 30 years, the Auroville Youth Center has been a vital, community-built and community-run space, built by youth, for youth. It has served as a cornerstone of cultural, social, and creative life in Auroville. The Youth Center provides an open environment where young people can learn, grow, collaborate, and simply be together.

Over the decades, the Youth Center has hosted and facilitated numerous community-focused events, including:

-The annual Christmas Fair

-Regular pizza nights and communal gatherings

-Cultural performances, music rehearsals, theater, and open mic events

-Spaces for vocational training, play, and creative experimentation

As a free and open cultural space, the Youth Center has welcomed people from across India and around the world, many of whom have learned about Auroville; its values, its ideals, and its community spirit through their experiences at the Youth Center.

Current Threats and Violations
The Auroville Foundation Office wish to see the Youth Center destroyed. On this basis, the AVFO has undertaken and enabled actions that have caused serious harm to the community and stand in direct contradiction to both the spirit of Auroville and the laws of India.

These actions include, but are not limited to:

-The use of bulldozers to destroy parts of the Youth Center and the surrounding forest
-Bringing in individuals to forcibly dismantle community-built structures
-Threatening and intimidating youth residents living at the site
-Illegally cutting off electricity to the Center
-Creating an environment of fear, instability, and coercion rather than dialogue and consensus

Such actions undermine Auroville’s founding principles of unity, participation, and collective stewardship, and they raise serious concerns regarding legality, due process, and ethical governance.

Our Requests
We respectfully and firmly call upon the Auroville Foundation Office and their appointees to:

1-Immediately cease all intimidation, harassment, and coercive actions
against the Auroville Youth Center and its residents.

2-Restore essential services, including electricity, that were unlawfully disconnected.

3-Halt any further demolition or destruction of Youth Center structures and community assets.

4-Allow the Auroville Youth Center to continue to exist and function as a vital cultural, social, and community space.

In Closing
The Auroville Youth Center is not merely a physical structure, it is a living embodiment of Auroville’s ideals. Its loss would represent a profound cultural and social harm to the community, particularly to its youth.

We urge the Auroville Foundation Office and their appointees to act with restraint, accountability, and respect for community-led spaces, and to uphold both the legal framework of India and the foundational values upon which Auroville was created.

Let the Auroville Youth Center continue to thrive as a space of creativity, belonging, and collective life.