This article presents excerpts from letters, statements, essays, and a petition related to the March 20, 2026 dismantling of the Youth Centre in Auroville. Part One gives a summary, and Part Two presents background. We want to provide insight into what the Centre means for the Auroville Community and how the event is emblematic of the AVFO’s ongoing destructive approach towards the history, accomplishments, environment, and culture of Auroville. If you want to read further, most of the pieces have links to the original text.
PART ONE
Statement on the incident in the Youth Centre
Dear Community,
It has come to our attention that there is a lot of misinformation being circulated in, and around Auroville, about the violence and dismantling at YC on Friday 20th March [2026], as well as false narratives on social media propagated by those working closely with and for the Foundation Office.
There was indeed a specific violent altercation at the Youth Centre, when persons from Auroville Foundation Office arrived to clear the area and dismantle the current assets of the Youth Center without any due community process nor any authorization, paperwork or a clear prior notice to vacate before 20th March.
It is not clear who ordered this destruction of the Youth Centre and the eviction.
The events of the day were witnessed and experienced not just by the residents and representatives of the YC but also by other residents who had gathered in support of the youth.
Considering the gravity of the situation, we find it important to share with you a more balanced account of what transpired there.
From the accounts of multiple eyewitnesses we have spoken to who were at the YC the incident involving Dingbawi, Swati, Sindhuja, Antim and Joel was an escalating sequence of actions from all involved, rather than a one-sided act of deliberate provocation or attack by the YC residents, as claimed.
Both parties are pursuing police complaints.
Furthermore, we see the attempts to characterise the dismantling of the YC throughout the day as entirely calm and restrained; this is not supported by eyewitness testimonies, nor by multiple videos, which show the tense atmosphere replete with verbal and physical provocation and several instances of violence on the side of those enforcing the destruction.
We strongly condemn and stand against the use of violence by anybody and everybody.
And we condemn the impunity with which these persons representing the Foundation Office continue to threaten, aggress and evade any responsibility for their unacceptable and violent actions under the guise of representing a Governing Board whose term has expired in October 2025.
For the future: We request everyone who answers a call for presence or participation to maintain calm (we know it can be challenging!), stay rooted in peaceful presence, support each other …. and document as much as possible!
This is paramount to counter the rampant misrepresentation and manipulation.
All documentation and eyewitness statements can be sent to us at: workingcom@auroville.services
With regards,
The Working Committee selected by the Residents’ Assembly of the Auroville Foundation
Anita, Elvira, Jayavel, Matthieu, Prashant, Raju, Valli, 25th March 2026.
Community WhatsApp group
Support the Auroville Youth Centre – Petition
Current Threats and Violations
The Auroville Foundation Office wishes 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
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.
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.
Petition March 29, 2026
https://www.change.org/p/support-the-auroville-youth-center
Follow & Stay Informed:
Instagram:
Stand for Auroville Unity
Youth Center, Auroville
Voices of Auroville (a residents-led newsletter)
YouTube Channels:
Auroville Media
Auroville Uncensored
PART TWO
Enough is Enough!
After the December 4th event four years ago [in 2021] when the dismantling of the Youth Centre began], the Youth Centre rebuilt the space with care, resilience, and unwavering dedication. Once again, the response has been using violence, leaving behind bruised bodies and deep trauma. [The Youth Centre was again partially demolished on May 20, 2026]
What have the youth done to deserve this? Roads leading to nowhere have been built. Thousands of trees have been cut. And still, you return with more violence to take what little remains; belongings, food, gas bottles, even damaging water pipes etc. Lives continue to be disrupted by actions that are deeply irrational and harmful.
This is not governance. This reflects a failure of responsibility and consciousness towards the community, the country, the world and its future.
Anonymous, March 2026
Reflecting on the Youth Centre being demolished
Reflecting on the sight of the youth center being dismantled once again, there is a deep value in standing as witnesses to this. There is a profound beauty in the way the youth find the courage to stand up for their integrity. Their fire is the life force in its most raw, honest form — refusing to look away.
While that fervor is a vital part of the whole, there is also a place for standing beside them as a “chalice” for the pain of it. This provides a container of acceptance — a kind of shock absorber — that keeps that courage from turning into lifelong bitterness.
Something happens when everyone simply shows up for each other in their own way, allowing the “atomic rupturing” of this moment to become a breakthrough rather than just a breakdown. We move on not by forgetting, but by carrying the “seed” of what was built into whatever comes next.
Natasha, Social media post, March 2026
Additional video statement by Natasha:
The city of the past
The attack on Auroville’s youth is nothing short of an assault on our very identity as a city of the future. When bulldozers destroyed the International Youth Centre, they weren’t just demolishing buildings — they were crushing the spirit of free progress and possibility that youth brings to any society. When Mitra Youth Hostel was cleared to house financial auditors, the message was crystal clear: administrative machinery matters more than welcoming the next generation. When Kailash residents and caretakers were kicked out with no space for dialogue, the ones who had to pay the costs of injustice and heartlessness were again the youth. In all this, we see a pattern that reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what Auroville was meant to be.
When I was a child here, I believed Auroville would show the world a new way of living. Now I worry it’s becoming just another example of how fear and authoritarian control can destroy even the most beautiful dreams. Unless something changes dramatically, unless the youth are welcomed back as essential partners rather than tolerated nuisances, many of us may have to make the painful choice that more and more young Aurovilians are making: to take our idealism and energy somewhere that values them.
Auroville Witness, Issue #10, June 29, 2025
https://aurovilleglobalfellowship.org/the-city-of-the-past-a-young-aurovilians-lament/
Life in community: The Youth Centre
The Youth Center will be a dynamic nucleus, humming with life where an exchange of ideas, skills and experience are possible on a daily basis. It will be a focal point for interaction and communication between youth in Auroville and youth from other parts of the world. It will be a pilot site for a variety of activities organized by the young of the world.”
The Youth Center Auroville Official Documentary Film, September 21, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVSbenhU8lg
The value of youth
On a sultry May summer’s evening [in 2023], after one of its communal and tasty pizza nights, the Youth Centre (YC) premiered a documentary simply titled ‘The Youth Centre’. The film originated with three friends . . . The trio interviewed 35-40 people, starting with the founders and including a range of people who either lived there in the past or live there at present. . . . “We wanted to share our story with the community, show them what we practise, how we live, the essence and spirit of YC and its youth”
The events of 9 December 2021 didn’t happen in a vacuum. Ever since arriving in Auroville at age seventeen, L noticed that there was a lot of talk around youth being lazy and not caring about work unless they were paid.
L notes how the film documents the ways the YC provides the youth “a safe space, to go away from their home and find their own community and peers and an understanding of what community living means.”
“Community means learning how to communicate with others, learning and expressing what your needs are, and at the same time taking responsibility, including by washing your clothes and your dishes. And for me, that was very powerful in terms of growth. Because of course you have days that might be challenging. But there is always an attempt to find a balance and understand one another.”
Peter, Auroville Today, No. 407-408, June 2023
https://auroville.today/articles/3755/the-value-of-youth
Auroville & soft rebellion
When the AVFO seized our communications platforms, we created alternative channels. When they bulldozed the Youth Centre, we didn’t respond with equivalent force — we found new spaces to gather. When they dismantled our Working Committee, we continued recognising our duly selected representatives.
This is exactly what [Shannon] Willis means when she writes: “Soft rebellion does not meet violence with a mirrored fist but with the supple intelligence of the willow, bending just enough to redirect the force and send it spiraling elsewhere.”
The most powerful part of Willis’s framework is what she calls “sanctuary networks”. She explains that “authoritarianism thrives on isolation, on making people feel like they stand alone”. Our response has been precisely what she describes: “building underground networks of care — mutual aid, resource sharing, protection”.
Anonymous, Auroville Today, No. 431-32, June 2025
https://auroville.today/articles/4370/auroville-soft-rebellion/
Threats to community spaces and assets
The Auroville Youth Centre — a vibrant community space for over 30 years and a symbol of community resilience since December 2021 — faced renewed closure attempts in late 2025. On 3rd November, its electricity and financial accounts were cut without notice following a youth event. While the financial accounts were later restored, electricity has yet to be reconnected.
On 9th December [2025], Youth Centre residents were called to a meeting purportedly about restoring power, only to be informed of a unilateral decision to close the Youth Centre altogether. The Foundation Office characterised the Youth Centre as “a focal point for activities not aligned with the ideals of Auroville”. The residents issued a detailed rebuttal, arguing that the “selective and misleading” claims reflect the deeper “erosion of trust, due process, and community spirit over the last four years”. A petition in support of the Youth Centre has since gathered over 7,000 signatures from wellwishers worldwide.
Direct link to issue #10 (February 2026) see article on p. 11
Voices of Auroville journal home page