student safety in St Petersburg

[Wilkinson, C.]

Ah well, if we're going into the realm of cultural relativism then
anything can be justified. Does this mean we should be advising
non-white students that there's potentially a good chance they'll
experience some sort of aggressive behaviour, but that they just need
to put up with it because "things are different" or not go at all?

Even if "things are different" in Russia, but that's no excuse to
condone behaviour that is violent or aggressive, and let us be clear
that this is what we are often talking about, regardless of the
minority.

As this thread has shown, we do need to warn students about possible
risks to their safety and the factors that may influence it. However,
as several responses have demonstrated, it's not just a question of
then shrugging and saying "takova zhizhn". Rather, the risk can to a
certain extent be managed by "de-othering" students from
ethnic/religious minority backgrounds.

Granted, it's a small step in the greater scheme of things and does
not negate the possibility of incidents with strangers, but surely
this is a far more productive way of approaching things.

CW








2009/11/27 Stephen Beet <stephenrbeet at gmail.com>:
> But things are different in Russia and you must accept that!
>
> On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 2:49 PM, Wilkinson, C.
> <cxwilkinson at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> I'll take the bait about gay rights in Russia:
>>
>>>While we are on the topic of minorities, what about gay rights?  Do you on
>>> this board think that it is right for a British MP, or foreign gay rights
>>> activist, to go to Moscow to try and force gay rights upon the Russians?
>>
>> "Gay rights" are HUMAN rights: the right not to get attacked, beaten
>> or killed for who you are or how you look.
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Stephen
>
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