The SOAS IV, held annually by the SOAS Debating Society, is one of the largest and most well-known tournaments in Europe. This year’s event, CAd by Joe Dyer, Helena Ivanov, Michael DG and Jamie Batchelor became especially appealing to us after the announcement that there would be no registration fees for international teams.
As with many UK tournaments though, part of the challenge is to get there and organize yourself a place to sleep. Using three different London airports and accommodations, our three teams all made it there in time.
After five preliminary rounds, Vienna B (Miri Muntean and Mark Etzel) broke 1st in the ESL category, missing the open break only on speaker points. Vienna A (Melanie Sindelar and Madlen Stottmeyer) did excellent as well, breaking 2nd and capturing ranks 2 and 3 respectively on the ESL Speaker-Tab.
The ESL-Final was completed by Berlin B (Pegah Maham, Fabian Bickel) and Sheffield Subconscious Judging Biases (Lucía Arce, Magdalena Wąwoźna). After a very intense debate Miri and Mark won from Closing Opposition.
After two previous final appearances (Jakob and Mark in 2012, Madlen and Melanie in 2014), we are incredibly proud to finally lift the trophy (figuratively, we didn’t get an actual trophy). Moreover, this victory marks the first time that a DKWien team wins an international IV!
In a very high quality as well as entertaining debate, Oxford C (Raffy Marshall, Jamie Jackson) won the Grand Final from Opening Opposition.
Aside from the competitive side, the tournament also offered two enjoyable socials. Saturday evening, we enjoyed sandwiches and a beer at the SOAS Student Union Bar. Due to exhaustion however, it did not end up being one of the most exciting nights in our society’s history. Thus, we were pleasantly surprised to learn, that daylight savings time ended and we would all get an extra hour in bed. Sunday’s social and the winner announcement took place in the Big Chill House near King’s Cross.
All motions:
R1: This House Would give 2 votes to women in Political elections
R2: This House believes that law enforcement organisations should never provide incentives to gang members to inform on their superiors (e.g. plea bargains or monetary rewards).
R3: This house regrets the decline in oil prices over the last 18 months.
R4: This house believes that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is good for America.
R5: This house would allow countries to pay other countries to settle refugees who reach their borders.
Quarter Final: This House Believes That the state should reclaim a fixed proportion of all charitable giving and redistribute it to other charities on the basis of their effectiveness
Open Semi Final: This House believes that the trans movement should actively seek to separate themselves, their issues and their collective identity from the LGBTQ movement in their campaigns and in the public consciousness.
Open Final: This House Would prefer a world in which there are no extreme emotions such as boiling rage, falling madly in love and extreme grief.
ESL Final: This House Believes that countries, like Switzerland, that were neutral in World War 2 should pay financial reparations to states occupied by the Nazis.
