There is not much to report from the Patras Open International Debate Championship, that took place in Greece from July 26th to July 29th. But we can give you some impressions:

The motion of the Grand Final that took place in the Theater by the Sea in Patras was „TH as Socrates wouldn’t have drunk the hemlock“. The winning teams came from Turkey: Congratulations to Melda Eren and Ali Avci as well as the best speaker of the Open, Kallina Basli. The CA team consisted of Manos Moschopoulos, Harish Natarajan and Milan Vignjevic.

The Motions:

R1: THW ban Golden Dawn.

R2: THBT the state should not give religious institutions any financial benefits.

R3: THBT the United Kingdom should abolish its monarchy.

R4: TH regrets Disney’s continuation of the Star Wars film saga .

R5: THW abolish national sports teams.

Semifinals: THBT the City of Thessaloniki should name one of its major avenues after Kemal Atatürk.

Final: THW, as Socrates, have used the opportunity to escape the death penalty.

The tab will be published on the Facebook-Event or the website soon.

Readers that are interested in more details about debating in Greece are adviced to read the following interview. Katerina Karadimitri, the Director of the Debating Society of Greece, and Manos Moschopoulos, IDEAs International Programmes Officer, were interviewed by the English version of ελculture, the most popular platform of contemporary Greek culture.

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