Gespräch
Details
Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, President of Ateneo de Manila University and KAS Country Representative Klaus Preschle congratulated the winners of the ADS-KAS International Debate Championship, which was also attended by students from outside the Philippines. Some participants came from as far as New Zealand, Australia, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
The University of Sydney debate team (Julia Bowes, Naomi Oreb and Steven Hind) triumphed against the Monash University (Victor Finkel, Kiran Iyer, and Sashi Balaraman), debating the issue of gun ownership; Ms. Naomi Oreb was also declared as the best speaker for the entire tournament.
Debaters Charisse Borromeo, Sharmila Parmanand and Kip Oebanda from the Ateneo de Manila University made it to the semi-finals, and completed the contest as the best of more than 60 Filipino teams.
Issues on democracy, immigration, energy, climate change, political reform, and other relevant topics were debated during the five-day contest.
The event is part of the joint program between the Ateneo Debate Society (ADS) and KAS which aims to shape a democratic debate culture and to raise political awareness through debate. Currently, the joint program supports trainings of young debaters in fifteen schools all over the country and will culminate in a debate competition for high school students in November 2008.
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TOPICS
Democracy
That candidates should be disallowed from using their own money to finance their campaigns
That the West should cease pressuring transitioning democracies to hold elections
That we would abolish political parties
Energy
That the price of petrol should be determined entirely by the market
That we would drill for oil in the arctic circle
That the production of non-hybrid cars should be stopped
Science and Tech
That all state-funded projects should be open source
That genetic research that attributes negative traits to particular races should not be pubilshed
That nations should be able to charge licensing fees for the use of genetic information from their native plants and animals
Sexualities
That we would create separate units for gays in the military
That governments should ban groups that seek to 'straighten out' gay men and women
That we would allow minors to have sex change operations
Sustainable Development
That areas of high ecological value should be returned to indigenous peoples for management
That arable lands should not be used for growing crops for bio-fuels**
That individuals should be given carbon quotas
Philippines
That we should end US involvement in fighting terrorism in Southern Mindanao
That we have had enough People Power revolutions
That the Philippines should adopt Chavez-style land reforms
Immigration
That industrialized nations should be forced to accept climate change refugees
That states should remove all restrictions against the immigration of HIV-infected people
That medical workers from developing countries should not be allowed to migrate to the developed world
Weapons
That international institutions should use force to restrict the sale of small arms to African nations
That gun ownership should be restricted to law enforcement agencies
That we should rely on mutual assured destruction (MAD) rather than on nuclear non-proliferation
Conflict Zones
That the UN should hire mercenaries for military operations
That African states should recognize Tsvangari* as the rightful leader of Zimbabwe
That we would respect China's right to prosecute foreign athletes who protest at the Beijing Olympics
Business and Trade
That corporate regulators should have veto power over executive bonuses
That we would protect nationally important companies from ownership by foreign government entities
That the WTO should abandon consensus voting as the basis for decision-making
Sin
That we would ban groups that glorify obesity
That governments should not take any action to discourage individuals from smoking
That problem gamblers should have their welfare payments suspended
The US Race
That we should vote for Barack Obama on the basis of his race
That low-income ethnic neighborhoods should be protected from gentrification
That Latinos should have the right to be taught in Spanish
Health
That hymen reconstruction surgeries should be banned
That IVF clinics should be stopped from implanting embryos known to have disabilities
That all restrictions on the advertising of prescription drugs should be removed*
The Law and Child Sexuality
That we should abolish the crime of statutory rape
That we should ban police officers from posing as children on the internet to catch pedophiles
That capital punishment should be allowed in cases of child rape