No water, no bread! A team from Serbia who wanted to immigrate fromSouth Africa to Botswana was - despite valid visas - defeated late last night by African bureaucracy, as Manos Moschopolous from Greece reported to Achte Minute. No drinks and food available at first for the Serbs around Milan Vignjevic, ESL quarterfinalist at the previous Worlds and co-convenor of the Belgrade Open 2011. Meanwhile, the OrgComm of Botswana Worlds talked to the Serbs, made food and drinks available and will help with all obstacles on early Tuesday morning, Manos released. Isabelle Loewe, Jens Henning Fischer and Henrik Maedler faced similar ...

Let’s get ready to rumble – the 31st World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) are about to start. From 27 December to 4 January Worlds 2011 are to be held in Gaborone, Botswana. Numerous debaters from VDCH countries change to the international debate circuit to compete with more than 300 teams from all over the world for the title of world debate champion. Nine days, that makes nine preliminary rounds plus various final rounds in three categories: Main break, ESL and EFL. The main break is de jure the category for all speakers, de facto for native speakers of English, ...

Achte Minute is your reliable source on the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) in Botswana's capital Gaborone. As usual since this year’s Euros in Amsterdam, Achte Minute is going to fulfill this task in English as well as in German. Your local correspondent in Gaborone is Jens Henning Fischer – he reports the latest and most interesting for participants and those at home: breaks, stories, interviews. If you want your stories and reports published on Achte Minute, please convey them to Jens or send an e-mail directly to achteminute[at]vdch.de. In addition to Achte Minute you might want to consult other ...

The day of reckoning is near - on New Year's Day, the WUDC Council is going to sit in Gaborone, Botswana, and decide over who will be hosting the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC, or Worlds) in 2013. So far, two candidates from Europe bid for Worlds 2013: Berlin and Zagreb. The OrgComm from Berlin Debating Union (BDU) started their PR tour in mid-November. Therefore, they made a video that shows the strong will of Berlin for peaceful freedom and her inhabitants' penchant for big words such as in JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner." According to the video, when it comes ...

Contrary to the saying "The devil takes the hindmost" John Engle and Declan Meehan from Trinity College Dublin won the final debate of the SSE Riga IV 2010. John and Declan only made it to the bottomof the speakers' tab because their flight was late to arrive in the Latvian capital which is why they missed the first two prelims on Friday. But the chief adjudicators were indulgent enough to let them have the chance of one extra round after lunch on Saturday. A team from London who had missed a prelim, too, was also allowed in. Tricky: It was the ...

The Achte Minute has a new baby: This week, we are starting a monthly section called ZEITGEIST. Jens Fischer will be editing the column. Below, you can find Jens’s explanation of the ideas behind ZEITGEIST, and he invites you to help us develop it. On Wednesday, December 8th, the first piece will be published – and we are anxiously awaiting ZEITGEIST! ...

Fairy-tale romantic, business-like activity and ambitious ideas: all of this and even more offers the Hanseatic City of Bremen. If you want to experience more of this city, you are invited to participate in the Jacobs Open of Jacobs University Bremen Debating Society (JUB Debating Society). The tournament in English takes place from 28 to 30 January 2011 and will be held in British Parliamentary Style (BPS). Chief Adjudicator (CA) is Jens Fischer (Berlin Debating Union), who won the Jacobs Open 2010 together with Henrik Maedler (JUB Debating Society). Jens already served as CA at the European Championships 2006 in Berlin, ...

Together with his club mates John Eltringham and Cloud Ramasendaran, Patrick Ehmann, president of the Berlin Debating Union (BDU) has travelled to England for the Oxford IV this weekend. On his agenda: Of course taking part in the most prestigious and biggest debating competition in Europe – besides Euros. But much more important: Patrick and his companions are going to shake lots of hands since they just started their PR tour across Europe to advertise their bid for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC a.k.a. Worlds) 2013. To gain a broad majority for their project, they chose to start in ...

The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) has made a decision: They want to bring the Worlds to Germany! On Saturday, Patrick Ehmann, John Eltringham and Cloud Ramasendaran are going to present their bid for convening the World Universities Debating Championships at the Oxford IV. The support of VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, facilitated the decision of Berlin Debating Union: “Only because we know we have the German debating circuit to support us we dare to do this,” BDU president Patrick admits. He is even more delighted to have other German debaters at the Oxford IV to back BDU’s presentation ...

The team Do not disturb! Seriously!, comprising of Anne Valkering from Amsterdam and Jens Fischer from Berlin won the UCU Open 2010. The competition was held on October 22 and 23 at the University College Utrecht, 36 teams competed over five prelims. Further teams in the final were PTB I (Sam Block and Maddie Grieve), Hot like Mexico, Enjoy (Vignesh Ashok and John Ashbourne) and Erasmus A (Lucien de Bruin and Daniël Springer). Into the semifinal had also progressed the teams The Real Real Deree (Chris Papadopoulos and Sophia Simunec), Erasmus C (Setry Rabejaona and Milen Petkov), Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ...

Teams with high travel costs to SSE Riga IV 2010 may ask for reduced registration fees. Anyhow, the competition is worth going to the Latvian capital on 10 and 11 December, as Vladimirs Zlotnikovs from the organizational committee reports. The conveners offer a three-star hotel, a standard known to speakers from the German debating circuit but highly unusual in international debating where participants are used to crash. Also included in registration fees are all meals, socials and free drinks. Jens Fischer, EUDC council president from Germany, is going to be CA of this years SSE Riga IV, joined by Will Jones ...

Did you ever debate with colleagues from the Baltics? If you haven´t, then there is a wonderful opportunity in December to change that: the Debating Club of the Stockholm School for Economics in Riga invites you to the Capital of Latvia from 10 to 11 December to enjoy one of the most prestigious debating tournaments in Eastern Europe. Participants will be accommodated in a 3-star-hotel, furthermore you will be part of parties and city tours with your hosts from Riga. Martins Vaivars, who already succeeded in numerous tournaments (3rd best ESL speaker, European Universities Debating Championships, Newcastle, to mention but ...

Since late September, Hannes Budelmann does not hold any honorary office – for the first time in years. For the past three years, he had been member of the executive board of Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG), the German alumni association for debaters. Hannes talked to Achte Minute about his work for debating, his personal future, and perspectives of the alumni association. Achte Minute: Hannes, you had been on the DDG executive board for the past three years, 2009/2010 as their president – what did you like most? Hannes Budelmann: Let me think about that… Actually, it was organizing that was the most fun: ...

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Eisenach is neither very big nor is it very exciting. Out-of-towners attract attention. A bewildered taxi driver asks a party-hungry debater whether he has arrived today. He has not. He has arrived here the day before. What for? To do the same thing, the Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft  (DDG), the German alumni association of former student debaters, has done every year in this small but lovely Thuringian town: Convene its Masters’ Cup. [caption id="attachment_5488" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Die neu eingeführten Manschettenknöpfe mit DDG-Vereinsabzeichen. Daneben gibt es auch Pins fürs Revers und Magnetpins. (Foto: Oliver Hörtensteiner)"][/caption] All DDG members are allowed to compete, all others are ...

Jens Fischer won the Masters' Cup 2010 of Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG), the German Debating Society for Alumni. Saturday night he prevailed opposing the motion "This House would operate the Loveparade 2011". His opponents in the final where Sebastian Berg, Lukas Haffert and Patrick Ehmann. CAs Jan Lüken and Gudrun Lux judged the final with Caroline Moll, Wiebke Nadler and Anja Pfeffermann. ...

Mihhail Jevdokimov and Robert Ustian won Kyiv Open 2010. The two debaters from Tallinn and Moskau prevailed as team Estonished by Abkhasian opposing the motion "This House believes the Ukraine should kindly ask the Russian Fleet to leave the country". Their opponents in the final where Raz v Nedelju (Opening Gov., Maxim Zhbankov and Sergej Kostenko), Clockwork Orange (Opening Opp., Anna Miritskaya and Ekaterina Lyubetskaya) und Beauty & Kate (Closing Gov., Ekaterina Filyurina and Vitaly Grib). The CA team consisted of Jens Fischer (Berlin Debating Union), Anne Valkering and Eugene Akulich. The complete Kyiv Open tab is available online.  And here are the motions of Kyiv ...

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Less than four months until the worldwide debating circuit assembles in Gaborone, Botswana for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC, a.k.a. Worlds) 2011 from 27 December 2010 until 4 January 2011! But before you open your new textbooks and work on your Setswana, the official language besides English, stop and check the technicalities. You need to make sure you have made your final payments. The conveners point out that banks charge a fee up to 25 US-Dollars for international wire transfer. Those who forgot about that fee may pay cash or with a check during physical check-in in Gaborone in ...

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Debattierclub Bonn won the Schobbe Cup 2010! In the final round, the team “Die Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo” from Berlin Debating Union in the proposition argued with “Bonn Generations” about net neutrality at Campus Westend of Frankfurt Goethe University. The team of Isabelle Loewe,  Gudrun Lux and Jens Fischer from the former German capital defeated Georg Sommerfeld, Dessislava Kirova and Kai Dietmann from the now capital. Awarded the title as best speaker of the final were two: Jens Fischer from the winning team and Nicolas Eberle from Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, a so-called Fraktionsfreier Redner, free speaker. There are usually ...

Even old stagers among those debating in the German speaking scene do very often not know what the EUDC Council really is. First things first: EUDC stands for European Universities Debating Championships a.k.a. Euros. But what is it that hides behind the “Council”? The one who knows about it in detail is Jens Fischer from Berlin Debating Union. He has been re-elected president of EUDC Council at this year’s Euros in Amsterdam. When Achte Minute asked him about his being voted, he laughed – his old and new office comes with a great workload rather than fame. [caption id="attachment_4895" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Jens ...

At a glance: Main Break and ESL Break of Amsterdam EUDC 2010! Teams from Greifswald, Göttingen and Köln are going to compete the quaters of Amsterdam EUDC 2010: Sarah Jaglitz and Rafael Heinisch (DC Greifswald), David Lamouroux and Gabor Stefan (DC Göttingen) and Bianca Sterly and Sebastian Hagemann (Tilbury House Köln). As adjudicator of "VDCH country" broke Alena Asyamova, Jens Fischer and Isabelle Loewe. Congrats! Full ESL Break: Erasmus A (Rotterdam, Jeroen Heun, Daniel Springer) Kalliope A (Groningen, Steffy Roos du Maine, Floor de Koning) Babes-Bolyai A (Cluj-Napoca/Klausenburg, Radu Cotarcea, Bianca Dragomir) Ljubljana A (Maja Cimerman, Filip Muki Dobranic) Greifswald A (Sarah ...

The Ingolstadt local newspaper Donaukurier published a report on the show debate between the two debating clubs of the Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. WFI Debattierclub Ingolstadt and Wortsport Eichstätt faced off in a debate on June 24. The Donaukurier article is available only in German.

Die Zeitschrift TOP Thüringen schreibt in ihrer Sommerausgabe über die Ost- und Mitteldeutsche Meisterschaft. Leider steht der Artikel über das Turnier, das das Wortkombinat Ilmenau Mitte April organisierte, nicht online zu Verfügung, aber hier gibt's einen Auszug - wer alles lesen will, muss sich das Magazin kaufen und auf Seite 92f nachschlagen. ...

"Das Wort Debattierklub bleibt eine Schmähung, solange die Öffentlichkeit solche Debakel erlebt." – Zu einem in diesem Schlussakkord gipfelnden Verriss sah sich das Feuilleton der Berliner Zeitung am 10. Juli 2001 veranlasst, als es über das Finale der ersten Deutschen Debattiermeisterschaften berichtete. Die publizistische Abreibung hielt den Zug der Debattiergeschichte gleichwohl nicht auf. Als Debakel wurden die folgenden neun Finals jedenfalls nicht mehr gebrandmarkt. Mittlerweile locken die Deutschen Meisterschaften Medien aller Couleur, um fröhlich und freundlich der staunenden Öffentlichkeit der Redekunst frönende junge Menschen zu präsentierten und Universitäten und die Lokalpresse feiern "ihre" Deutschen Meister wie eine erfolgreiche Sportmannschaft – ...

Der VDCH-Club Wortgefechte Potsdam lädt für den 26. Juni zu einem Debattier- und Jurierseminar. Es soll insgesamt neun Übungseinheiten geben zu Themen rund um das Debattieren und Jurieren im Debattierformat BPS. Als Trainer haben bislang Isabelle Loewe (Debattierclub Bonn, ESL-Europameisterin 2006), Jens Fischer (Berlin Debating Union, Deutscher Vizemeister 2002), Torsten Rössing (Klartext Halle, Deutscher Meister 2008) und Patrick Ehmann (Berlin Debating Union, Deutscher Vizemeister 2010). Ein Programm für das Seminar ist auf der Internetseite des Potsdamer Clubs online. Sollten sich genügend Teilnehmer (16 bis 20 BPS-Rednerteams) melden, wird am 26./27. ...