Clarification on Naviga’s decision

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 ā€“ 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:

Good evening Mr Kalmykov

 

Rest assured this decision was neither hasty or thoughtless, on the contrary it was taken after consulting the whole Presidium including the various section leaders and the outcome was that out of 11 people 9 supported this idea with 1 abstention and 1 not answering. THAT is what democracy looks like!

 

The Russian and Belarussian model boat Federations are suspended ,not banned for the very simple reason that at this moment in time and this till the end of the conflict noone can garantee the safety of participants from all countries involved. It is simply out of the question to have competitors from Ukraine, Russia and/or Belarus to stand together at lakeside or any other event without the risk of an escalating situation.  It only takes 1 word to put fire to the fuse, and rest assured at some point that is bound to happen. Most boat modelers are indeed peace loving people who did not ask for this conflict to happen, but reading and receiving various comments over the last few days only makes our decision even more the only correct one. 
Nowhere in your statement i see an openly spoken condemnation about this conflict yet you hide behind statements that have absolute no relevance to this conflict. The soverign state of Ukraine was and still is brutally attacked by Russian armed forces aided and abetted  by your elected President Loekasjenko, ALL real peace loving countries the world over condemned this yet not opposing this openly shows a silent agreement to that!

 

Sports and politics do indeed not mix, as perfectly shown only a few days ago by Mr Kuliak at the Doha  World cup for gymnastics,  That was nothing less than a pure provocation if ever the World witnessed one  so . I have to this moment no knowledge of a similar statement written by your Federation to the Russian Gymnastics Federation telling them you do not agree to that either, so please spare me the “pot calling the kettle black”! If i only look at the list of organisations such as FIFA, UEFA, Formula 1,the Paralympic commitee and many more who put similar sanctions upon Russia and Belarus i do not tend to think that was a wrong decision.
Untill a true lasting peace is restored, Naviga stands behinds it s decision.

 

Walter Geens 
Naviga President

 

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Comments 2

  • 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”).

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