Roosevelt Open
On October 11 and 12 the Roosevelt Debating Society hosted the second edition of the Roosevelt Open. The tournament was held in lovely Middelburg, all the way in the south-west corner of the Netherlands. Among the VDCH-speaker were Stefan Torges, Madlen Stottmeyer, Leonard Muenstermann, Moritz Justen, Kai Dittmann, Jan-Dirk Capelle and Christopher Kroesmann. The tournament was won by Anne Valkering and Rogier Baart. Unfortuantly no VDCH-teams were in the break rounds, but the individual results of the teams and speaker can be found in the individual Speaker Tab and Team Tab.Motions
- R1: This House would no longer arrest or prosecute individual members of drug gangs operating in highly violent areas if gang leaders agree to holt all turf wars.
- R2: This House would suspend all regulation regarding environmental protection laws and policies during prolonged periods of economic recession.
- R3: This House regrets that in the case of SGP vs. The Netherlands the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of The Netherlands (forcing the SGP to allow women to take office within the party). *
- R4: This House Believes that the International Criminal Court should hire private military contractors to arrest individuals who refuse to surrender after an indictment.
- R5: This House Welcomes the rise of online news media at the expense of traditional journalism.**
- Novice Final: This House Believes That schools should instill unrealistically high expectations in students from lower-socio economic backgrounds
- Semi Final: This House Believes That the Israeli LBGT-movement should oppose pink-washing.***
- Final: This House Believes that “I was just following orders” is a legitimate defence in cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity
*Info-slide: The SGP is a Christian Orthodox party in The Netherlands which consistently holds seats in parliament. They propose policies and laws in accordance with Biblical teaching. They are in favour of traditional gender roles. Article 10 of their Statement of Principles hold that women aren‘t eligible for political office. Women are unable to submit themselves to election lists for the SGP or take political office within the party. In 2004 there was a legal challenge against the SGP by women‘srights movements who claimed that Article 10 is illegal under Dutch law. This case reached theEuropean Court of Human Right (ECHR) in 2012 in „The Netherlands vs. The SGP“ where the judgesruled in favour of The Netherlands and forced the SGP to allow women to run as candidates bothwithin their party and for national office.
** Info-slide: Traditional journalism consists of print media such as the Daily Mail and the New YorkTimes as well as television news networks such as CNN. Its circulation and viewership has beenfalling over the last few years. At the same time there has been an increase in the popularity of online media such as blogs and social media as a source of news. Examples include the Huffington Post and Jezebel.
***Info-slide: Pink-washing refers to the Israeli government actively promoting LBGT issues in Israel todetract from human rights issues in the Palestine Territories. Many commentators believe it is one of the main reasons for the government’s financial and vocal support of LBGT projects such as Pridemarches in Tel Aviv and other financial support. Many members of the international LBGT movementfear that this policy may be damaging to LBGT issues.
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Outrounds:
Semi Final 1:OG: Duncan Crowe and Bas Tönissen (Duncanon)OO: Senna Maatoug and Tomas Beerthuis (Cow and Chicken)
CG: Danique van Koppenhagen and Benjamin Dory (I’ve got 99 problems but a bid ain’t one)CO: Ary Ferreira da Cunha and Calin Muresanu (BBU/Porto)Panel: Bionda Merckens (chair), Jennie Hope, Gigi Gil, Daan Welling and Henk van Zuilen
Semi Final 2:
OG: Amy Bakx and Menno Schellekens (BS)
OO: Anne Valkering and Rogier Baart (Dinosaur)
CG: Uche Odikanwa and Rob Honig (Rob was adopted)CO: Arielle Dundas and Alex Klein (UDS A)Panel: Tom Moran (chair), Karin Merckens, Simon Tunnicliffe, Sarah Rust and Veronica Baas
Finals
Novice Final:
OG: Naud Berkhuizen and Roel Bos (UCU BB)
OO: Simone Landman and Jordy van Rijsingen (Swing A)
CG: Emma Lucas and Simon Touissant (DSDC Simma)
CO: Eva Rouwmaat and Xiao Xu (UDS C)Panel: Anna England-Kerr (chair), Andrea Bos, Lia Verbaas, Ruairidh Macintosh and Ybo Buruma
Final:
OG: Anne Valkering and Rogier Baart
OO: Senna Maatoug and Tomas Beerthuis
CG: Danique van Koppenhagen and Benjamin Dory
CO: Uche Odikanwa and Rob Honig
Panel: Andrea Bos (chair), Bionda Merckens, Jennie Hope, Daan Welling and Ruairidh Macintosh
ak/ with help from Daan Welling
