A VDCH*-team was the winner of the Manchester IV 2014: Lukas Thiel and Moritz Justen of Tilbury House Debating Society won the tournament in the category English as a Second Language (ESL). After four preliminary rounds, the team from Cologne was pitted against teams from Glasgow, Lund, and Dalarna in the position of Closing Opposition. The motion of the ESL-final was „This House would support a strict disciplinarian educational system, as long as it makes students perform better“.
The team from Dalarna, Sweden, consisting of Siri Nylund and Alva Winsa, also participated in and won the Novice final against teams from Sheffield, Durham and LSE (London).

In the Open final, after quarter- and semi-finals, Joe Mayes and Kit Mercer of Durham came out on top. They too won from the Closing Opposition position, beating teams from ULU (London), Strathclyde, and Bristol after a 4 – 1 split decision. The final motion presumed that „technology exists to allow people to selectively erase their memories without any physical side effects,“ and debated whether people should be allowed to do that.

The Manchester IV, which took place on February 22^nd and 23^rd, was hosted by the Manchester Debating Union and convened by Elizabeth Chloe Romanis and Jane Kilpatrick. Tom Lake served as Tab Master. The full interactive tab can be seen online. The tournament’s Chief Adjudicators were Michael Barton, Emilia Carlqvist and Imogen Parkes; Srishti Krishnamoorthy completed the organisation group as Equity Officer.

The full list of motions is as follows:

R1: This House believes that US media should not report any details about school shootings beyond the fact that they happened.

R2: This House believes that all international peacekeeping operations in Africa should be carried out solely by African troops.

R3: This House supports menstrual activism.

(Info slide: Menstrual activism is a movement which seeks to examine social attitudes towards menstruation through artistic performances such as the wearing and tasting of menstrual blood.)

R4: This House would ban Holocaust denial.

Open Quarter-Final: This House supports the creation of women only economic zones in Saudi Arabia.

(Info slide: There are segregated economic zones in Riyadh where only women are allowed to work. This means that normal rules that apply to women’s daily activity can be relaxed, i.e. they enjoy greater economic rights in these zones.)

Open Semi-Final: This House believes African-American civil rights organisations should condemn capitalism.

Open Final: This House would allow individuals to selectively erase their own memories.

(Info slide: The technology exists to allow people to selectively erase their memories without any physical side effects.)

Novice Final: This House regrets the use of nationalism by colonial liberation movements (e.g. the Indian National Congress, Sinn Fein).

ESL Final: This House would support a strict disciplinarian educational system, as long as it makes students perform better.

*VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen) Association of German Speaking University Debating Societies

hug/kem