Unser Korrespondent in Manila, Florian Prischl, hat den ersten Tag der World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC oder Worlds) zusammengefasst. Lest hier, was sich am ersten Tag des größten internationalen Debattierwettstreit zugetragen hat.

Today, De La Salle Worlds in Manila kicked off for good! Day 1, however, was an easy one for debaters. Many of them were asked to take part in ESL and EFL interviews to confirm their status in the respective category: English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language.

Adjudicators were challenged more thoroughly. They had to go through a test to determine their skill as a judge. It consisted of a live debate performed in front of the adjudicators, which they had to critique. The motion for that test debate read: „This house would ban all reporting of individual hostage taking.“

Due to slight delays, lunch and the WUDC pre-council meeting, as well as some of the ESL/EFL interviews were scheduled concurrently. Due to these delays, only one instead of two rounds of the Masters‘ tournament took place today. The motion: „This house would end all public funding for post-secondary education and use the money to give everyone an equal lump-sum payment on their 18th birthday to use how they see fit.“

Your correspondent used the time during Masters‘ round 1 to explore the surroundings of De La Salle University in the bustling city of Manila. The city presents many different faces, and the cultural heritage of East Asian, Southeast Asian, Spanish and American cultures is clearly present in everyday life in Manila.

In the evening, the Opening Dinner provided another opportunity after the Opening Cocktails for everyone to get to know each other. More importantly, the tournament was officially launched under the auspices of the Mayor of Manila Alfredo S. Lim and the President of the De La Salle University, Narciso S. Erguiza. An inspiring video, contrasting the life of poor Manilans and the power speech and debate can have on the world, rounded out the opening ceremony.

Tomorrow, debating will start in earnest, as debaters from all over the world speak for their place in the spotlight of World Universities Debating Championship!

Follow Achte Minute on Twitter for current news on the DLSU Worlds – hashtag #WUDC. Support our coverage of the Worlds: Help our correspondent Florian Prischl, send us e-mails to team [at] achteminute [dot] de or direct messages on Twitter. Wanna watch WUDC debates online? Then tune in to iDebate – they livestream debates from all rounds.

Since 1981, debaters from all over the world have been competing at the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) at alternating locations across the planet. It was not before 1996 that the British Parliamentary Stylebecame the mandatory format for this annual tournament. From 27 December 2011 to 4 January 2012, the international debating community assembles in Manila for the second time: 1999’s host was Ateneo University in the Philippinian capital – the first time for WUDC to come to Asia at all. Language of debate is English and there are three categories: “Main” for native speakers, “ESL” (English as a Second Language) and “EFL” (English as a Foreign Language). Current World Champions are Monash A from Australien („main break“), Haifa A from Israel (ESL) andTokyo B from Japan (EFL).

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