So the four members of the Working Committee who are not aligned with the strict cult doctrine are being vilified and witch-hunted at the moment. As I mentioned in episode 28, they are, together with the members of L'avenir d'Auroville, the greatest thorn in the side of the Aurovillagers at present: they openly denounce the cult narrative that this fight is between “the Aurovilians” and “the authorities”, meaning the Secretary, the Governing Board, the Auroville Foundation and even the Government of India. The Auroville Foundation is of course not a separate entity anymore since 2022, as we have now all become legal experts and know from the Auroville Foundation Act (1988) that the Auroville Foundation INCLUDES the Residents' Assembly, which is the only body in the Foundation Act that the Aurovillagers care about and desperately want to be the “Governing Assembly That Holds All And Every Power Over All Things Auroville”. They'll launch a court case soon to have the Act “corrected” to suit their personal wishes. Speaking of court cases: the NTG case (hey, is that still a thing? yea, apparently it still is) was launched AGAINST the “Auroville Foundation” by Aurovilians, who are members of the “Residents' Assembly” (as this body is defined to “consist of all the residents of Auroville who are for the time being entered in the register of residents”, and “for the time being” indeed, these people ARE on the register of residents), which is, as we are being told at every drop of a hat, not just “a part” of the Auroville Foundation, but it's main body, and the one that should govern Auroville and the Whole Universe. So these guys actually sued themselves, in a very weird way. I can't really understand how that in itself wasn't already enough to simply dismiss the case, but well, who am I...
But back to the WC soap series. The fact that the majority of the Working Committee and the totality of L'avenir d'Auroville (also known as the ATDC, the Auroville Town Development Council) are in total agreement with the Secretary and Governing Board, and fully support their actions, is obviously a crime worthy of capital punishment in Aurovillage. Because the cult leaders are desperately defending the claim that this is a battle between the internally united Aurovilians against an externally imposed governmental authority. This is absolutely not true, and the fact that some positions of power are beyond their control infuriates the Aurovillagers to no end: the “residents” are very openly NOT one block of unity and harmony and agreement.
Over the years, the members of L'avenir d'Auroville have been appointed by some selection process created by the Aurovillagers, but that is nowhere written in a legal document. So the Governing Board and Foundation Office can decide to do whatever they want with the appointment to that council. The Aurovillagers will have no legal standing whatsoever to overturn the choice of the Governing Board. So even though they are still endlessly harping on about going after the L'avenir d'Auroville members, it's a totally lost battle from the get-go.
But the members of the Working Committee are clearly mentioned in the Foundation Act to be chosen from among the Residents' Assembly by the Residents' Assembly. So here we finally have one of the very few points on which the RA can take a decision.
Now obviously, the Auroville Foundation Act is written in a way that reveals the writer did not conceive of the possibility that one day, a bunch of dominant Aurovilians would go and start a war against the Governing Board. If the provisions of the Act are followed correctly, such a situation would not be possible, in fact.
But for 30 years, the Governing Board has not fulfilled its role and responsibilities as defined in the Act, and that power vacuum was filled from day one by the Aurovillagers, taking all power towards themselves. This aberration now has created the situation in which the Aurovillagers PRETEND to have the legal power to take decisions in Auroville, and are starting court cases against the new Governing Board, because they actually take up the responsibility of governing Auroville as legally defined.
As will be clear to anyone who has no skin in the game: this is a lost battle, as the legality of the Act and of the actions of the Governing Board is clear from the text of the Act, while the Aurovillagers' claim depends solely on a certain interpretation of the Act, and on the fact that for the past 30 years, they were allowed to steal the power from the GB.
Their main claim is in fact: “Hey, you've allowed us to steal for 30 years, so now you have to adjust the law and allow us to steal forever!”
The issue with the “disloyal” Working Committee members therefore has the strange angle that yes, the members are supposed to be chosen by the “RA”, but what presently claims to be the “RA” is nowhere near the “Residents' Assembly” as conceived in the Foundation Act.
The “due and democratic process” that the Aurovillagers have concocted over the years, and that they call something like “the RA decision making policy”, is totally undemocratic (as already explained in episode 18 and others), and is based on the premises that 5% of the Auroville “residents” can take valid decisions, and that these 5% then can claim they have the right to impose on the 95% others. Because “everybody is free to join the process and have their say”.
What is really flawed here is the fact that the Aurovillagers have imposed a “democratic” system that has usurped all the power and rights of the Residents' Assembly, and that now, if anybody wants to have some decision power or change anything, they have no other option anymore but to go THROUGH THAT very same system.
Almost nobody in Auroville is interested in the Aurovillage “Governing Assembly” system: out of 3,300 residents, some 200 participated in the meeting that would decide if the 4 Working Committee members were going to be put on trial and be “ousted” by a 2-week voting process called “RAD” (Residents' Assembly Decision). God knows if all of the 200 are even part of the 3,300, as volunteers and guests can simply join meetings, “as silent observers”.
But the main issue is that Auroville doesn't want or need a “democratic system”. It needs be an environment, a setting that helps us be more and more the willing servitors of the Divine. It needs truth, honesty, sincerity, selflessness, goodwill, and all of that doesn't need “processes” to get done. There can never be a “due process” or “system” that “works” if it allows ego, selfishness, hypocrisy, lying, corruption and cult narratives.
What Auroville needs is people who are not interested in having comfy lives in big houses on free land, being the King of their Castle. Auroville needs people who want to live according to Mother's guidance, simple, selfless lives that are meant to serve the Divine and the evolution of our human misery into the Life Divine.
At the moment, such people are actively discouraged from joining Auroville, while Aurovillage on the contrary attracts people who want to live out their entitlement and egos in a nice comfortable and relaxed environment. People who want to freely act out their indoctrinated colonialism, their superiority and latent racism, all nicely covered up with huge amounts of hypocrisy and pretend-spirituality.
It is absurd to say it in a place like Auroville, but we are now blessed with the clean-up team from Delhi that has taken up the nasty task of sweeping out the mess that Aurovillage is. No other option was left for Auroville to survive, than have a higher authority step into the cesspit and do the dirty work.
How sorry a state is thàt. It's really a blessing that it is now happening. Step by step, each part of the Aurovillage set-up is being replaced by a more decent and truthful version.
We're focusing on building the Mother's City, the Mother's Dream: Auroville, the City at the Service of Truth.
Let's take the little step forward every day, towards more honesty, more truthfulness, more selflessness, a better and more beautiful place that radiates real inclusive joy and harmony, and compels and helps each of us to become a better servitor of the Divine.
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