Winners of the Helsinki Open – Alex Harris (left) and Brian Wong (right) – © Brian Wong

Congratulations to ‘Alex is never Wong’ (Alex Harris, former ULU, and Brian Wong, Oxford) for winning the Helsinki Open 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating ‘The Cupcakes or Your Life’ (Miri Muntean and Ingo Bandhauer, Vienna) in Opening Government, ‘Schrodinger’s Dichotomy’ (Jenni Juvonven, former Tampere, and Martijn Roo, Berlin) in Opening Opposition, and ‘Mainor A’ (Oskar Gross and Kasper) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House would grant an amnesty to citizens who fought for ISIS who return home in return for their participation in a Truth and Reconciliation Process and counselling’.

The Final was judged by Ilija Ivanišević in the chair, and Gustaf Lundgren, Aodhán Peelo, Kristina Georgieva, Gigi Gil, and Daniel Bramble, on the panel.

Further congratulations go to ‘Sweden Second’ (Viggo Johnsson and Simon Sällström, Stockholm) for winning the Novice Final of the Helsinki Open. From Closing Government, they defeated ‘Am/Am’ (Johannes Majamäki and Harri Connell, no institution) in Opening Government, ‘Debaters’ (Malva Dahlqvist and Ooona Varinowski, Stockholm) in Opening Opposition, and ‘Koc C’ (Deniz Alkan and Durmus Ali Oner) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House believes that technology companies should actively resist attempts by the state to use their technology to gather intelligence.’

The Novice Final was judged by Nish Hegde in the chair, and Emma Lucas, Cerys Bradley, Aron Cohen, and Nick Zervoudis on the panel.

The Top Speaker of the tournament was Alex Harris with an average of 82 and the Top Novice Speaker was Kristine Wilson with an average of 76.

The tournament took place from May 12^th until May 14^th and the Chief Adjudicators were Olivia Sundberg Diez, Duncan Crowe, Emma Lucas, and Alex Moise.

The Break:

Open:

1. Alex is never Wong (Alex Harris, former ULU/Brian Wong, Oxford) – 14 Points
2. Where are my landmines? (Melda Eren, Munich/Suhail Dhawan, European Southern Observatory) – 13 Points
3. Mainor A (Kaspar Kelder/Oskar Gross) – 11 Points
4. White Man’s Burden (Phillip R. Mueller, Munich/Calyxx Peucker, UDCH) – 11 Points
5. Little short on arguments (Erik Haamer/Kerli Kalk, Tartu) – 11 Points
6. COMBUSTIBLE LEMONS THAT BURN YOUR CASE DOWN (Milla Huuskonen, Helsinki/Dean Foley, Manchester) – 10 Points
7. the cupcakes or your life! (Miri Muntean/Ingo Bandhauer, Vienna) 10 Points
8. Saving throw versus death (Linde Kremer/Roel Schoenmakers, Tilberg) – 10 Points
9. Germanohellenic Reconciliation Party (Annika Dukek /Alexander Altanis, Stockholm) – 10 Points
10. Where´s the sauna? (Christian Rausch/Katarina Heinrich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München ) – 10 Points
11. Schrödinger’s Dichotomy (Jenni Juvonen, former Tampere/Martijn Roo, Berlin) – 10 Points
12. Max+Johan (Zhen Im/Claus Schröder, Helsinki) – 10 Points
13. Land of our fathers (and dragons, don’t forget dragons) (Craig McDonald, former Cardiff/Ieuan Skinner, former Swansea) – 9 Points
14. Will Marry for Citizenship or Herring (Jeen Chun/Karl-Henrik Smith, Copenhagen) – 9 Points
15. peanut but i scream (Kristine Wilson/Felicia Hu, VRG Djursholm ) – 9 Points
16. Cries in ESL (Triin Toimetaja/Maarja Tambet, Tartu) – 9 Points

Novice:

1. Sweden second (Viggo Johnsson/Simon Sällström, Stockholm) – 9 points
2. Koc C (Deniz Alkan/Durmus Ali Oner) – 8 points
3. Debaters (Malva Dahlqvist/Ooona Varinowski, Stockholm) – 8 points
4. am/am (Johannes Majamäki/Harri Connell, no institution) – 7 points

Judges: Olivia Sundberg Diez, Duncan Crowe, Alex Moise, Emma Lucas, Gustaf Lundgren, Kristina Georgieva, Kit Mercer, Melanie Sindelar, Daniel Bramble, Lamine Kane, Aodhán Peelo, Amanda Moorghen, Cerys Bradley, Mike Weltevrede, Ilija Ivanišević, Aron Cohen, Nish Hegde, Nick Zervoudis, Gigi Gil, Sara Halonen

Motions:

R1: This House believes that governments should not assist in rebuilding areas that are prone to natural disasters.

R2: Info Slide: Under a “suspended sentence” a judge can choose to not automatically apply the standard penalty for a crime, provided the convicted criminal is subject to monitoring by probation services. If they reoffend during a stipulated period the part of the sentence which was suspended becomes active.

Motion: This House believes that Western Liberal Democracies should not allow judges to suspend sentences.

R3: Info Slide: “In 2011 the Egyptian people overthrew the military regime which had ruled the country since 1953. In the elections which followed the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist political party, was victorious and formed the largest party in the legislature and won the Presidency.

In 2013 following a period of sustained unrest the military overthrew the government in a military coup. They carried out a Presidential election in 2014 which ratified the status of General Al-Sisi as President which is widely believed to have been fraudulent.

Egypt receives $1.3b in military aid from the USA every year as part of the Camp David Accords.”

Motion: This House believes that the US should withhold military aid to Egypt until the regime holds free and fair elections.

R4: This House believes that Feminists should not use rhetoric about women being more empathetic or caring than men as part of their advocacy.

R5: This House believes that the EU should suspend the payment of structural funds to states which fail to maintain EU admission standards on political and civil rights.

Novice Final: This House believes that technology companies should actively resist attempts by the state to use their technology to gather intelligence.

Quarter Final: This House would ban countries with poor records of human and political rights from participating and hosting the Eurovision Song Contest          .

Semi Final: This House would prefer to live in a world where people had full control over their emotions (for example, being able to turn love, hate, or fear on/off at will).

Final: This House would grant an amnesty to citizens who fought for ISIS who return home in return for their participation in a Truth and Reconciliation Process and counselling.

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