Well, we can see it again, a debate motion really happening in real life, and we can see, if the predictions, the arguments and the ideas, that we used in debates really happen, or not.
I wrote about that in the “A debate plan in reality” post that was about Kosovo debate motions and what debater thought is going to happen when Kosovo gets independent.
Well, now we can see another topic, that we all probably debated about, developing in Real life.
Olympic games, not going to the Olympic games or whatever connected to the Olympic games was debated a lot on tournaments around Europe, and now we can see, what is really going on. It is not like someone important didn’t go there, but we can still see at least one argument developing in the RL (Real life).
Its the “China will develop its Human Rights (HR) agenda” argument. Well, I kind of feel, that this has not happen. If you read the last weeks Economist, you can see, that that is not happening. Let’s see what rights are equally or more restricted because of the Olympic games.
1. Freedom of speech - well, I just watched a CNN report today that tried to find the protesters, that protest at the designated protest parks in Beijing. Well, they found the parks, but they were empty. You need to apply for a protest, give all the data (even what your banners are going to say) and wait for an approval. Well, up to today no one got the approval. And 1 person got arrested while applying for it.
2. Economical freedoms - even if it looks better for the tourists and other foreigners, the China’s leaders made a lot of companies to stop working, or they even forced to transfer the workers into Beijing (like with the power plants, where they got all the good workers to Beijing so that they can supply the games with power juice).
3. Freedom of movement - or is is another one, I’m not sure, but people were forcedly moved, so that they were able to build new stadiums and other venues. Well, not really a thing that you would call a good thing.

And probably other rights have been violated (like moving or arresting of beggars on the streets etc.). Its a show that they put on for us, but in the background I believe that it got worse. We will see, what will happen after the games, if they will change in a positive matter.

What do you believe now, after you have seen the games, was it a good decision?
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Well obviously something was wrong with the registration…
This is what you can read on the official website

“Just a quick update on how registration has gone. We have been massively oversubscribed and the places for allocation in this phase were allocated within a couple of minutes. There were however some places held by the system which should have been allocated to teams who have been told they are on the waitlist. These extra places will be allocated within the coming hours.
We will place a further update on the website shortly.”

So let’s wait and see if we get our places…

I have registered teams from my University to the WUDC and I really didn’t want to miss the spots, so I waited 10 minutes before the registration opened on the site, that means that I started typing in all the information at exactly 15.00 (GMT +1).
A couple of seconds after I finished I made a print screen, just to be on the safe side, and it shows 15.02, that means that I finished the registration in less than two minutes.
The confirmation email that I received 10 minutes later told me, that we are on the waiting list.
I know that the application process goes fast, but I just can not believe it, that more than 70 people typed faster than I do and that they filled all the spots.
I really do not understand what happened.
Well, I emailed the organisers, we will see, what will be their answer.

One of the most important parts of my debate website for me is the Tournament invitations, at least for me.
I’m trying to post all the debate tournament invitations, announcements etc. that I come to. I regularly check the EUDC, WUDC, debate-I and other debate mailing lists, different debate blogs like Tuna’s, Flynn’s and other, I check Facebook invitations and I also regularly get invitations to my private email address.
I post all of them here, and try to add interesting details from what I know about the tournaments.
You should check this aggregate regularly, and to make it easier for you, I provide a RSS feed that you can subscribe to. Paste this Debate tournaments RSS link into your favorite RSS reader (like goggle reader) and you will be up to date.
Of course you are invited to post me your debate tournaments, so that I can post them, use the contact form and I will post it on my website, so that you will get to as many people as possible.

This years EUDC council debated on the problem about the names of the categories of debaters at EUDC. Until now we debated in the EFL (English as a first language) and ESL (English as a second language). It is understandable, that there are problems, because of the mix up of EFL that can mean English as a first language or it can mean English as a foreign lanugage, categories that are used at the WSDC and I believe also at the WUDC.
The solution that th EUDC council came up with is, that the EFL (First language) category should be named The Main break, and the other as it was, ESL.
I do have a big problem with this, because I believe that naming something Main means, that the other stuff is just not as important. That means, that the ESL break becomes the Secondary, or Auxiliary break. And this is just not acceptable.
There are other variations that could be used, but they just did not use them. Like for instance, they could call it ENL (English as a native language). They are native speakers, so there is a background for this.
There was a discussion on the names Closed and Open break, Open, because second language teams can break into the first language break, and it is not possible vice-versa. This naming is acceptable, but it is just not so natural, as the other names.
I believe that because of the respect of the second language speakers (a ESL team broke 4th on the first language break this year at EUDC), the council should reconsider this position and pick other names. I’m not sure what happened at the council, if anyone protested against that, but I do know that some ESL judges already work on using the MAIN names. We will see.

What is your opinion on that?

It’s a couple of days since I’m back from the EUDC, but am still writing from my phone, being at the Slovenian summer debate camp. Here are some of the final notes on the UEDC 2008.

1. Food
This has been one of the biggest disappointments. Not only was it not tasty, being hungry on a debate tournament really suxx. The money that they have spent on the fancy hotel would be much better spent on more and better food.

2. Tournament
Having all the announcements on time was really a great change from what i’ve seen on previous EUDC’s.

3. Coffe
Coffe should be provided at all times. Really. Always

4. Socials
Trying something different is good but it just did not work this time. And i remember a promise on free alcohol, but a free beer at the dinner is just a bit less than i expected.

All in all it was ok, but we have seen better and look forward to EUDC 2009

When I wrote the article “How far did debate come in your country” I wrote, how the status of debate in Slovenia is great, but I had no idea.
As you probably know, we have the presidency of the EU for a while now, and this also means, that all the big meetings are held in Slovenia. We are going to host the US president and his wife next week.
Why is this connected to debate? Well the US Embassy in Slovenia, that is preparing the program of the visit asked us, if we would like/could make a debate for Laura Bush. That means, that the Slovenian Worlds team for Washington and a couple other debaters will make a public debate (that will be closed for public ) for Laura.
They will debate on the motion “This house supports that voluntary community service becomes obligatory for higschool graduation.”, 2 vs. 2 with short two minute speeches and then we will also let a couple of debaters from the audience make a floor speech, and then we will invite the G. W. Bush’s wife to speak about the debate.
I’m sure it will be a great event. I will try to, at least, take a couple of pictures, and if possible make a video of it and post it here.
And I will of course write a follow up on this blog, so RSS it, and read about how the debate will go.

This is an article I wrote some time back, but by popular demand, I’m publishing it again.

Debate will change your life, if you like it or not. There is no way out of this, mainly because a lot of people just get addicted to it after they try it. And once you are in, you can’t get out. And you do not really want to be called a quitter, do you?

So here are a couple of things that I have seen, that have changed in my life.

1. Yeah right, I don’t buy it

This is the most common answer, that I now give to people. Ok, maybe I’m not that annoying, but I really think more about what people tell me. If you are a politician or just my friend, I will challenge you on what you say. Sometimes just for fun, just to see the argument, or to see if you have an argument behind your claims, and sometimes because I really do not agree with you.

2. My first point is, my second point is…

Well I use structure. Even if I do not always use it in my debate, I use it more and more when I speak freely with my friends. It helps me to get my information to them and it helps me to get back to what I spoke in the past, because they tend to try to change what I said. Or they just hear it differently.

3. I’m more annoyed by things that people say

When you start thinking about what people tell you, you see that there is a lot of BS, that they try to sell you. It sucks sometimes, because you would just like to go and have an easy day, but you just have to think about what people tell you. Yes, Ignorance would be a bliss sometimes, but if you are a debater, you just can’t do that.

4. I know people all around the world

In all of the years, that I debate, I have probably met hundreds of people from all around the world, that I would never meet, if I would not debate. All the tournaments just push you to speak to people from different backgrounds, and this makes your social life much more fun. Yes, it can destroy the organization of the friends that you have on Facebook (if you are a debater, you MUST join) (and I don’t try to brag about the number of friends that I have on FB), but it really is great, that you have a place to crash and a couple of interesting people that you can go for a coffee with in almost all countries that you visit.

There are probably even more things that I have just because of debate. This web page, a proportion of work that I do for money is connected to debate, most or all of the travel that I do an others.

More about debate and where to debate at the website below.

You need to. It does not matter, if you live in the America’s, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa or in Bhutan.

There are benefits for you, there are benefits for the people around you and there are benefits for the society. Even if this sounds like a bad debate case, there are even benefits for the world, and everyone that does debate, that teaches debate or even only goes to see a debate is contributing to a better world.

Ok, now I need to support these claims with something. Here it goes.

1. If you debate, you think. And thinking is a underrated consept these days. Most people believe, that thinking about something is just too hard, and that if other people think, and they just folow the orders everything is going to be ok. But I believe that we see every day (and I’m not using Hilter here, even if I could), what bad things can happen if we let other people think and we only follow orders (or just do what other people tell us to do). We come to a society, where nothing is forbidden, because the responsibility is always on someone else, and it gets lost.

2. Debate makes people change their mind

Maybe. Sometimes. But as the Policy debaters would say, if we save only one person, that is enough. And that is how it goes. We can not make people think if we order them to think (because they do not think … As Tuna would say, if I order you to think by yourself, do you do it?). What we can do, is change people one by one. One more debater in your debate club, and one more thinker. One more person watching you at a public debate, and here you go, one more thinker. Multiply this by 10000 debate clubs and here you go. We are changing the world. You just do not know it yet, because you do not think globaly.

3. Debate makes your life easier

I know. You need me to tell you, how debate is going to make your life better and easier. Here you go. Your studies will be easier. You will understand the material easier, because you are used to think about it. You will also have more general knowledge, and this will help you with your studies. And more. It will be easier for you to pass exams, because you will know how to structure an argument and structure an essay. Or if you have oral exams, each answer will be as a debate speech.

And at the end of the day, yes it will be easier for you to find a girl/boyfriend. Believe me. YOU will be the talkative/whitty/funny/smart/inteligent guy/girl that everyone wants to date (Ok, I’m still waiting for this benefit, but Im sure it will come .

Do you really need more reasons? GO! DEBATE.

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I’ve been chatting to a proffesor at the University of Ljubljana today (actually my debatie was) and we got the question: What are the debate books, that you would recomend for us to have them in the library? This is a good question, so this is why I’m posting it here, so to see, what do you think about it.

I’ve send them an email, stating that the “Art, argument and advocacy by Meany and Schuster” “Voices in the sky by Snider” and “Teaching and learning strategies for a thinking classroom by no idea who” are the books that they should buy, and of course I’ve added the Slovenian books on debate the we wrote (actually I’m a co-author at only one of them, but they were both published by Za in proti).

What would your list be?