NAVIGA Hello boat modelers all over the World,
today we received a letter from the Belarus Federation stating they do not agree to Naviga ‘s decision to suspend the membership of Russia and Belarus. I will publish the letter we received and also our answer. As mentioned before Naviga does not want to be drawn into this conflict but also does not turn a blind eye to what is happening now. This message will also be sent to all our member countries for all to read. The Naviga Presidium cares about all it ‘s members but under the current circumstances it is impossible to ignore what is happening. We all hope for this conflict to end soon but we also fear these events will cause a stand off that will not easily be repaired.
Walter
STATEMENT OF THE BELARUSIAN FEDERATION OF SHIP MODELING SPORT
The Belarusian Federation of Ship modeling Sport strongly disagrees with the
decision of the NAVIGA Presidium to suspend the membership of the Republic of
Belarus.
Obviously, this decision was made in violation of clause #1 of the NAVIGA
Charter and contradicts the main sports principle – SPORT IS OUTSIDE POLITICS!
Today, NAVIGA, on the contrary, demonstrates its politicization to the whole
world. Taking hasty and thoughtless decisions, NAVIGA enters into a sanctions war
with its long-standing and loyal partners – the ship modeling federations of Belarus
and Russia, instead of uniting ship modelers of all countries on the basis of the ideals
of sport.
Recall that over the past 30 years, Belarusian sportsmen have not only been
regular participants in the NAVIGA championships, but also show consistently high
results in many model classes, contributing to the development of these classes. This
long-term cooperation cannot be destroyed with one stroke of the pen.
Apparently, the NAVIGA Presidium forgot that its main task, according to the
Charter, is to develop ship modeling sport throughout the world, but not to isolate
countries that are objectionable to some politicians.
The decision to suspend the membership of Belarus and Russia will lead to the
weakening of NAVIGA as a worldwide international organization and the decrease in
the level of models at the NAVIGA championships. In addition, this decision
significantly impedes the exchange of international experience, and hence the
widespread development of ship modeling sport.
Ship modelers of Belarus call on the international sports community to unite on
the basis of commitment to the ideals of sport in these difficult times for all us. It is
necessary to prevent the incitement of discord, unjustified anger and hatred within the
sports community.
It should be noted that the Republic of Belarus is a peaceful country and is not
a party to the military conflict in Ukraine. Moreover, on its own initiative, Belarus has
more than once helped and continues to help the warring parties in organizing peace
talks that are taking place on our territory.
Sportsmen of Belarus stand exclusively for peace and mutual understanding
between peoples and states. We continue to maintain professional and friendly
contacts with colleagues around the world.
We hope that the Presidium of NAVIGA will treat our arguments with
understanding and cancel the restrictive measures it has taken against the Republic of
Belarus.
THE BELARUSIAN FEDERATION OF SHIP MODELING SPORT
Dmitrij Kalmykov
Naviga s answer:
Dear fellow model builder Dimitrij Kalmykov,
please indulge our President in his assessment of world affairs. He is a Western European and I suspect he has never lived in a totalitarian regime. I had to live under socialism for the first half of my life and had the enormous good fortune of the peaceful revolution in 1989. It is clear to me, and I am sure to many other model sportsmen, that in a message to NAVIGA, you must weigh every word carefully. You live in your country. Mr Greens lives in a safe country at this time and is impressed by a few posts on social media.
War is the most horrible thing we can imagine. A military attack brings immense suffering and cannot be justified by anything. Nevertheless, I take a more nuanced view of Mr Kuliak’s action at the gymnastics world championships in Doha, to which Mr Greens referred. Perhaps Mr Kuliak expressed his opinion, in which case he has a different opinion from mine. As a citizen of a country where freedom of expression actually prevails, I accept that. But maybe he has been blackmailed. His family lives in Russia.
It is certainly not NAVIGA’s job to oppose governments. We cultivate sport in the spirit of international understanding.
I am happy to try to help model sportsmen in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus directly. Perhaps you will be able to send me an email by some means that will not be read:
rosner-kapellendorf@t-online.de.
Many greetings
Gerald Rosner
for the record Mr Rosner, do by all means first try to get at least someone else’s name right before you start your biased statement. Should you want to discuss matters on a personal level, i am at your disposal as a private person, not in any official position, because to Naviga this matter is decided and closed but that doesn t mean i do not have a personal opinion as Mr GEENS (without “R”).