At the start of the tourism season in Goa, and with the influx of Russian tourists the pivotal question which needs to be addressed is whether Goa’s tourism sector can afford to be opinionated while being critical about the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces.
A very important factor that would have to govern the dissemination of tourism related services would be the sensitisation of the Goan tourism sector towards the ongoing war in Ukraine.
To begin with, it would be of utmost importance to inculcate a sense of objectivity in the minds of the Goan taxi driver, the hotel receptionist and especially the restaurant attendants. Because, we as a secular and a cosmopolitan state need to independently evaluate that ordinary Russian citizens should not be ostracised for the actions of President Vladimir Putin and the forceful invasion of Ukraine.
My first instance of sensitisation towards the plight of the Ukrainian people was on June 16 this year when I was fortunate enough to attend a lunch-time symposium at Zurich, Switzerland and which was titled: “The Global Impact of the War in Ukraine”.
On the agenda of the Symposium was the address by Prof Kseniia Smyrnova (Vice-Rector for Education (International Affairs), at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Professor Smyrnova served as a Member of the Legal Reform Commission under the President of Ukraine.
When I asked her about the future of international law amidst the War in Ukraine, Prof Smyrnova clarified that the Ukrainian Government was in the process of confiscating assets owned by Russian Businesses in Ukraine and would be utilising the assets in rebuilding the damage to Ukrainian buildings.
In interacting with Prof Smyrnova, one could feel empowered by her patriotism and her nationalist idealism in choosing to make Russia pay for its reckless military actions.
This is the crucial threshold wherein the objective viewpoint needs to be maintained by the national of a third country such as India.
It is quite straightforward to feel empathy for the Ukrainian people and simultaneously harbour a resentment towards the actions of the Russian state.
But the people of Russia, its citizens are not entirely motivated by the geo-political dialogue and International Relations that Russia maintains outwardly with other nations.
Primarily, it needs to be understood that Russia cannot be considered a democratic state in its entirety.
On paper, Russia is a federal democratic state. In practice, however, many political scientists regard it as a dictatorship built around one man, President Putin.
Even the circumstances concerning the guarantee of fundamental rights in Russia has not been entirely free from the control of the state government.
In fact, quite early on, right from February, 2022, there were reports coming out from the Russian capital of Moscow that the right to freedom of speech and expression was curbed and that the Russian citizens were not allowed to protest against the invasion of Ukraine.
Even the state owned media companies in Russia, even went ahead and dubbed the invasion as a liberation of the oppressed people of Ukraine in order to justify the use of military force against the Ukrainians.
From the interactions that I had with my Russian colleagues at my University in Spain, I recollect a few that were worthy of being paraphrased.
Denis V. mentioned to me that the oligarchs who owned most of Russia’s oil reserves were powerful enough to quell protests by a handful of informed Russians by effecting their arrests and solitary confinement.
When I asked my colleague: Mikhael K. about the practice of the Russian authorities in arresting protestors, he was quick to confirm that the police in Russia would preemptively arrest a certain person or even a group of people if they suspected that they were planning a mass protest or some form of civil disobedience against the Russian government.
Victoria on the other hand cautioned about the internet browsing history and how the Russian cyber authorities were constantly monitoring the search history of every citizen. She added that if it became evident that a person was surfing the web in search of democratic and liberalism literature, the police would call the person in for questioning.
Now, amidst the turmoil which is ongoing in Ukraine and the suppression against free speech against the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian Military forces, a question which looms in the mind of the every Goan is whether the Goan tourism sector afford to take sides.
It cannot be emphasised enough here the importance of fairness in providing tourism services to Russians without holding any grudges for the actions of their state’s leader.
This kind of sensitisation would be of immense importance during the onset of the announcement by the Russian Airline: Aeroflot declaring their new operations in commencing direct flights to Goa from Moscow.
There is much to be garnered in promoting peace through hospitality and very little to be expressed by drawing inspiration from hostility.
Because, tourism is based on enabling an exchange of cultures and empowering refuge from the mundane atrocities of the mind which a tourist experiences back home. If the same discriminatory behaviour similar to the Russian autocratic rule is dished out by the tourism sector in Goa, then no difference would remain in our cultural awareness and our acceptance towards different viewpoints.
