The Open Final of the Suzhou Debate Open 2020 has been won by Cambridge JH (Joshua Yeung, Han Yang; Cambridge Union) from Closing Opposition. Speaking against them were Sun Fuji (Tota Takahashi, Kanan Ishizaka; Tokyo) in Opening Government, anyideas (Andrius Budiono, Matthew Ling; Chinese University of Hong Kong) in Opening Opposition, and Team Ascension (Fardeen Ameen, Zobayer Ahmed; Independent University of Bangladesh) in Closing Government. The motion before the house was that “Assuming feasibility, THW allow individuals to sell their units of Intelligence Quotient (IQ),” for which there is a recording available as part 1 and part 2. The adjudication panel was chaired by Anqi Li and further consisted of Devashish Trivedi, Mikkel Neri, Sher May Nar, Sajid Khandaker, Vinamre Dhar, and Erica Liu.

The Pro Am Final was also won by a Cambridge team in with Asian Boba Gang (Teen Jui Chow, Nerinat Yongphiphatwong; Cambridge) taking the first from Closing Opposition. Speaking against them were the teams of Lovely Weekend (jaitong Zhu, Junhao Hou; SZMS) in Opening Government, UM Babies (Kenny Hoi, Victoria Lau; University of Macau) in Opening Opposition, and Tactical 4ths (Jerry Tang, Alice Huang; Beijing Foreign Language School) in Closing Government. The motion before the house was that “THBT identity groups within the feminist movement (e.g. the trans community, black feminists, etc) should lobby and campaign as independent movements rather than together as a single movement.” The debate was judged by Shamsul Nafees (chair), Clarice Tee and Vinamre Dhar.

The top speaker of the tournament was was Fardeen Ameen with an average of 81 speaker points.

Open Break:
1. Team Ascension (Fardeen Ameen, Zobayer Ahmed; Independent University Bangladesh) – 13 points
2. Cambridge JH (Joshua Yeung, Han Yang; Cambridge) – 13 points
3. Zanghua PatroLL (Joshua Kemp, Susan Chen; LearningLeaders) – 12 points
4. ET-4, (Qu Jin, Naomi Ma) – 11 points
5. Okay Zoomers, (Ricky Huang, Arya Zhu; Bates College) – 11 points
6. Sun Fuji, (Tota Takahashi, Kanan Ishizaka; Tokyo) – 11 points
7. Newton’s AirPod Gang, (Ethan Saw, Arda Battalgazi; Westminster School) – 10 points
8. LOL (Yuri, Terry) – 10 points
9. Cambridge B, (Atiyu Mehta, Clinton Wee Yuan; Cambridge) – 10 points
10. SZNP, (Nicholas Peh, Sean Zhou; Speechcraft) – 10 points
11. Nicki Minaj, (Ricky Jin, Nina Ma; SHS) – 10 points
12. Error 404, (jiawei Cui, Harry Zhang; National Taiwan University) – 10 points
13. Once upon a time, (He Xiyu, Zeng Xiaoya; East China University of Political Science and Law) – 10 points
14. Thought Police, (Ran Guo, Yunfei Li) – 9 points
15. Double Joker, (Ray Wang, Winda Wang; Peking University) – 9 points
16. anyideas, (Andrius Budiono, Matthew Ling; The Chinese University of Hong Kong) – 9 points

ProAm Break:
1. Lovely Weekend, (Jaitong Zhu, Junhao Hou; SZMS) – 9 points
2. Tactical 4ths, (Jerry Tang, Alice Huang; Beijing Foreign Language School) – 9 points
3. UM Babies, (Kenny Hoi, Victoria Lau; University of Macau) – 8 points
4. Asian Boba Gang, (Teen Jui Chow, Nerinat Yongphiphatwong; Cambridge Union) – 8 points

Judge Break:
Adel Ahmed, Anqi Li, Chris Paschali, Cian Luddy, Clarice Tee, Devashish Trivedi, Erica Liu, Ferdin Sanchez, Har Naveenjeet Singh, Khalis Khalid, Klaudia Maciejewska, Matt Hazell, Mikkel Neri, Mohammed Wasif, Reed, Sajid Khandaker, Shamsul Nafees, Sher May Nar, Tin Puljić, Vinamre Dhar

Speaker Awards:
1. Fardeen Ameen, Team Ascension – 81 average speaks, 405 total speaks
2. Naomi Ma, ET-4 – 80.8 average speaks, 404 total speaks
3. Zobayer Ahmed, Team Ascension – 79.4 average speaks, 397 total speaks
3. Joshua Yeung, Cambridge JH – 79.4 average speaks, 397 total speaks
3. Han Yang, Cambridge JH – 79.4 average speaks, 397 total speaks
3. Qu Jin, ET-4 – 79.4 average speaks, 397 total speaks
7. Josh Kemp, Zanghua PatroLL – 79 average speaks, 395 total speaks
8. Clinton Wee Yuan, Cambridge B – 78.8 average speaks, 394 total speaks
9. Ricky Huang, Okay Zoomers – 78. 6 average speaks, 393 total speaks
9. Arda Battalgazi, Newton’s AirPod Gang – 78. 6 average speaks, 393 total speaks
9. Tota Takahashi, Sun Fuji – 78. 6 average speaks, 393 total speaks

The Suzhou Debate Open, hosted on July 4th and 5th, featured 58 teams and broke to Open Quarterfinals and to a Pro Am Final. The Adjudication Core consisted of Erica Liu, Anqi Li, Matt Hazell, Sher May Nar, and Cian Luddy. Tabulation was done by Neil Sebastian on Tabbr and is available here. 

Motions:

R1: THW put an absolute cap on non-essential expenditure by parents on each of their children

R2: THBT prominent social media platforms (e.g Twitter, Facebook, Weibo) should not allow politicians or political parties to make public accounts

R3: THS the pirating and mass availability of academic resources

R4: THW cancel all debts to international organisations (e.g. the IMF) or other countries held by the governments of the poorest 20% of countries

R5: THBT in areas of socio-economic deprivation, schools should train students in vocational skills to the exclusion of the liberal arts

QF: THS the illegal removal of statues of popular historical figures by social justice movements who consider them to be offensive (e.g statues of Winston Churchill in the UK, of Sukarno in Indonesia, etc)

SF: THBT international media organisations should only use local reporters to cover foreign stories and events

ProAm F: THBT identity groups within the feminist movement (e.g. the trans community, black feminists, etc) should lobby and campaign as independent movements rather than together as a single movement

F: Infoslide: For the purpose of the debate, an intelligence quotient (IQ) refers to a total score derived from a set of standardized tests that could accurately assess human intelligence. Through intelligence, humans possess the cognitive abilities to learn, form concepts, understand, apply logic, and reason.

Assuming feasibility, THW allow individuals to sell their units of Intelligence Quotient (IQ)