News & Notes 901: Residents' Assembly Meeting on December 20th
Entity::Residents' Assembly Meeting on December 20th
Dear fellow Aurovilians, as a community, we have experienced an accelerated and forceful implementation of the Crown Road that has created turmoil for many. For some, it was the frustration of a long delay in the manifestation of the City, facing yet another blockage. Others were shocked by the actions taken to push forward, despite the lack of community-wide agreement on the development of the City. Over 500 Aurovilians signed a statement to “reject violence, threats and actions which undermine community processes and our collective work.”
The intensity of these actions, supported by some members of our Working Groups, led residents of Auroville to submit three requests for Residents’ Assembly Decision-making processes (RADs). The three RAD petitions are:
- “To stop all development on the Crown until further notice from the RA”. This RAD petition was submitted to the RAS on the 6th of December, 2021. The petition has been validated by the RAS.
- “To address the ATDC selection situation (six appointed without RA approval).” This RAD petition was submitted to the RAS on the 18th of November, 2021. The petition has been validated by the RAS.
- “No confidence in the Working Committee’’. This petition was formulated at a spontaneous meeting at SAWCHU on the 4th of December, 2021. The RAS suggested the representatives consider formulating a more concrete petition statement before formally initiating, which is in process.
We believe it is essential, especially today, to enable the Residents’ Assembly of the Auroville Foundation to embrace its collective power and wisdom, deciding together on how we want to manifest Her Dream and Her City. In their letter to the Governing Board of December 11th, 2021 (attached), the International Advisory Council of the Auroville Foundation called for “an actual practice of inclusiveness. Differing views and perspectives are unavoidable, yet Auroville’s challenge is to bring them together and find ways to harmonize them.”
Considering the events of the week from 2nd to 11th of December (see an emerging summary of recent events attached to this post on Auronet), the following sequence for the above RADs is being worked on:
- To start the RAD process on “To stop all development on the Crown until further notice from the RA” with a first RA Meeting on December 20th. This was announced by the RAS on Wednesday the 8th of December via RAS mass mail and on the Auronet.
- To initiate in parallel the RADs on ATDC and WC, carrying these two topics and petitions forward line with the current decision-making policy.
The RAS is arranging these RAD processes, working closely with the petition representatives (Lakshmi and Sandeep), who are supported by a coordination team composed of Maël (as RAS resource person) Elvira and Suryamayi. We look forward to reconnecting on this journey of realising our collective decision-making power from a space of Unity.
In community,
Lakshmi and Sandeep (Petition Representatives)
Maël, Elvira and Suryamayi (Coordination Team)