Vision Statement

“The world has for long been in its grip,--the exclusive winter that keeps the human races within closed doors. But the doors are going to open. Spring has come” - Rabindranath Tagore 

The world faces a moral crisis as the forces of war, racism and neo-colonialism fight against forces of peace, democracy and civilizational unity. The Western World Order is in its last stages and neocolonialism is taking its last gasp. The long winter of colonialism and European domination is coming to an end. We are witnessing the Afro-Asiatic reconfiguration of humanity.. Nothing is predetermined and the people of the world must remain vigilant and build a new unity and a new peace movement. A dying western empire is lashing out in desperation and creating conditions of war and genocide in West Asia. The world is witness to the suffering of the Palestinian people and particularly the children of Gaza.

For us in India and China, we are two old civilizations with two young and large populations. Our friendship and cooperation is essential to the rise of a new world order. 

This year we are celebrating the centenary of Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to China in 1924. The visit is a landmark in the history of India-China relations. Rabindranath Tagore is modern India’s foremost poet-philosopher. His visit to China is comparable to the ancient sages and visitors from India to China. During his visit to China, Tagore said, “The impertinence of material things is extremely old. The revelation of spirit in man is truly modern: I am on its side, for I am modern.” Drawing from the Upanishads and the Buddha, his poetry imagined a new synthesis. He argued for a united pan-Asia with fraternal bonds between the great Asian civilizations linking them in universal love. His friendship and influence on the likes of Bing Xin, Xu Beihong, Xu Zhimo, Liang Qichao represent the coming together of the literary and cultural movement in the two countries. When Tagore visited China, his hosts greeted him by saying India and China are two brothers born of the same womb and this is the spirit we want to continue today. 

To celebrate Tagore is also to celebrate human culture at its best. He was a revolutionary poet who was committed to a democratic future. He refused to bend down to the narrow pragmatic considerations of today and believed in the great ideal of a new tomorrow. He believed in the interconnectedness and sacredness of human life. He believed that true culture and civilization came from the ways and being of ordinary people. As he said in the Geetanjali, “He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!”

Tagore saw that the Western world was perishing at its root despite material progress, because of the unrighteousness of their means. He gave a call to Asia to show the path of righteousness and peace. He urged Asia not to follow the West into mindless war and destruction. True peace is inextricably linked with culture. The great fighters for peace including Paul Robeson, Soong Qing Ling, Jawaharlal Nehru and others saw the link between culture and peace. The people of different civilizations must recognize and celebrate each other.

As we move towards a new era, states and peoples around the world are experimenting with new forms of democracy. The Chinese experience has been termed a civilizational state, the coming together of an old civilization and a modern state. This concept of a civilizational state will find resonance in India and also in Russia and within Africa. Rabindranath Tagore’s vision of a higher and higher unity being achieved historically between human beings requires us to fight against the forces of division. The sovereignty of the state, which is the product of an anti-colonial struggle, is crucial for preserving and expanding this unity. 

The call of today is the struggle for unity between civilizations and peoples. The celebration of Tagore’s visit to China will be a celebration of the strength of human spirit. Tagore believed in the forward movement of human spirit and consciousness. WIth him we have faith that we are born in an age where civilizations come together in peace. With him, we want to dream of an Asia that is bound up in a spiritual relationship, not in one of profit-making or fighting. We call on artists, scientists, workers, students, teachers, religious organizations and all peace-loving people to join us in this celebration of Rabindranath Tagore and the link between our two great nations. 

We follow Tagore’s evocation to his audience in China, “My friends, I have come to ask you to re-open the channel of communion which I hope is still there; for though overgrown with weeds of oblivion its lines can still be traced. I shall consider myself fortunate if, through this visit, China comes nearer to India and India to China,—for no political or commercial purpose, but the disinterested human love and for nothing else.”