On society

Auroville: a neo-colonial phenomenon?
It happens from time to time that Westerners, and occasionally Indians, see Auroville as some sort of neo-colonial project. They see the women working in the houses, the young men working in gardens or at the Matrimandir, the masons, carpenters, drivers, watchmen or semi-skilled workshop staff employed around Auroville, and conclude that Auroville is like a throwback to the Raj, a project riddled with neo-colonial attitudes and behaviour patterns. Are they right? Is there a neo-colonial dimension to Auroville? Are Aurovilians actually just exploiting the local people for their own (Auroville's) benefit?

To answer this question objectively, firstly one has to have a very clear picture of how India actually was under the Raj; how it was governed and what life was like for its indigenous population. None of the people who habitually make accusations of colonialism have had such experience, and so they lack objective knowledge. Meanwhile there are a number of important points of comparison which can be made, as follows:

• Auroville is a project under the Government of India. The Auroville Foundation has an Indian controlled Governing Board, Indian Secretary and Indian administrative staff, all of whom would be quick to protest or intervene if it was felt that Auroville was functioning like a colonial outpost or just taking advantage of the local people.

• Colonialism was the prerogative of individual colonising nations. In Auroville today there are some 30 nations represented!

• Far from milking the local economy for the advantage of a colonial nation, sending out raw materials, mineral resources, etc, for the benefit of that nation or a group of nations, Auroville is receiving funds (tens of millions of dollars over the years) from abroad and pouring them into the bio-region.

• Local people freely and voluntarily approach Auroville for work: there are no organised forces of coercion or recruitment involved. Meanwhile Auroville pays good salaries (well over a million US dollars worth of wages go out annually into the local economy) and provides decent working conditions plus pension schemes and other advantages i.e. there is no attempt to take advantage of local people or get away with the minimum wage for maximum amount of labour.

• Strong evidence of the positive effect of Auroville on the local villages can be seen by comparison with other villages further afield. Even as close as 20-30 kms away one can see relatively far less prosperity and much simpler lifestyles.

• It should be noted that a considerable number of Auroville employers are Indians. They also employ local people in just the same way as Westerners, and treat them in the same way.

• There are numerous friendships, close working relationships of mutual respect, and quite a number of mixed race marriages or partnerships between Indian people and Westerners.

• Most of those who criticise Auroville for being "colonialist" are visiting Westerners, because it is they who have inherited a conscience relating back to the original colonial period, and are very sensitive to the subject.

• Auroville has no elitist clubs, like the Gymkhana in Delhi or Adyar in Madras. There is no general policy of separation or exclusion between local Indians and the Aurovilians. All mix easily together in a relaxed and relatively harmonious way.

• Auroville is doing practical work to improve infrastructure and life in the villages through bodies like Palmyra, AV Village Action Group, the AV Health Centre, Harvest, Auroville Clean and SAIIER, providing toilets, schools, health sub-centres, tank rehabilitation, sports facilities, youth clubs, etc.

• There's a conscious all-pervasive wish in Auroville to see the local villages come up alongside Auroville, and this is definitely - though slowly - happening, as anyone who has witnessed the changes wrought over the last 25+ years will confirm.

• Auroville has reforested, not deforested the area; has not exploited any local material resources for its exclusive benefit; and is sharing its growth and development with the local people.

• Far from being in a position of control, Aurovilians are actually very vulnerable, always at the mercy of the Indian authorities. There's no way foreign Aurovilians could afford to live out any sort of colonial fantasy here, even if they wished to do so, which is definitely not the case. Auroville is Indian territory, Indian controlled under the Government of India, and cannot even remotely be compared with the Raj. It is unique, something new in creation, definitely not a throw-back to the past but rather a hope for the future!