The winning team: Erik Haamer & Kerli Kalk – © Tartu Ülikooli Väitlusklubi

Tartu has scored a home victory at the Estonian Open 2017 with Tartu A (Erik Haamer, Kerli Kalk) taking the victory in Closing Opposition on the motion “TH supports US airstrikes on Syrian military targets”. They defeated the Opening Government Riga B (Rasmuss Filips Geks, Edgars Klētnieks), Opening Opposition Müün sapaka keret (Vikki Perijainen, Maria Kull) and Closing Government Mainor A (Kaspar Kelder, Oskar Gross). The judge panel consisted of Triin Toimetaja as chair, Daan Welling, Olesja Zorina, Maarja Tambet and Anneliis Rea.

Novice winners: Heleriin Ots (l.) & Evelin Metslov (m.) – © Tartu Ülikooli Väitlusklubi

The novice final was won by the team in Closing Opposition as well. TTÜ (Heleriin Ots, Evelin Metslov)  won against the teams KTU B (Dainius Šaltenis, Jonas Ribikauskas) in Opening Government, Rage in Favor of the Machine (Christina Roumelioti, Aleksi Niemi) in Opening Opposition and K. Marx’s witnesses (Ieva Hūna, Eduards Baumanis) in Closing Government on the motion “THBT conscription is a war crime”. It was judged by Maarja Tambet in the chair, together with Anneliis Rea and Tõnis Kuusk.

Team Break:
1. Tartu A (Erik Haamer, Kerli Kalk) – 12 pts.
2. Riga B (Rasmuss Filips Geks, Edgars Klētnieks) – 12 pts.
3. Mainor A (Kaspar Kelder, Oskar Gross) – 12 pts.
4. Müün sapaka keret (Vikki Perijainen, Maria Kull) – 11 pts.
5. So rich, so pretty (Rauno Kiviloo, Karl Mattias Sepp) – 10 pts.
6. Lund A (Matti Bryder, Ernest Björklund) – 10 pts.
7. Riga A (Rūta Gabaliņa, Dārta Maija Zaķe) – 9 pts.
8. Riga C (Edvards Rutkis, Elizabete Fleišmane) – 9 pts.

Judge Break:
Kristin Parts, Martin Küüsmaa, Carlos Salgado, Olesja Zorina, Daan Welling, Heiki Viisimaa, Maarja Tambet, Anneliis Rea and Tõnis Kuusk

Best speaker of the tournament was Erik Haamer with an average of 79.40 points, while Elizabete Fleišmane got the trophy for best novice speaker, averaging 75.79 points.

All motions:

R1:  TH opposes the use of taxes explicitly designed to promote behavioral changes in citizens (ex. additional taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, non-eco friendly products).

R2: Infoslide: The Johnson Amendment is a US law. It states that tax-exempt entities like churches and charitable organisations are unable to directly or indirectly participate in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate. Specifically, ministers are restricted from endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit. If they do, they risk losing their tax-exempt status.

THW repeal the Johnson Amendment.

R3: THR the influence Tinder has on dating.

R4: TH does NOT welcome the increase in usage of robots and automatisation of labour.

R5: THBT women in highly gender-unequal democracies should form independent political parties instead of voting for, and running on behalf of , existing parties.

SF:Infoslide: A multi-tier EU is an idea floated around in policy-making circles that, when implemented, would allow member states to choose differing levels of adherence of EU laws and regulations in exchange for increased access to the common market and the Euro.

THS a “multi-tier EU”.

NF: THBT conscription is a war crime.

F:TH supports US airstrikes on Syrian military targets.

jm.