Rain, rain, rain – all over Germany! But the brave debaters of the Boddencup never gave in and even did their BBQ in Greifswald. A short lesson on German geography: “Bodden are brackish bodies of water along the southwestern shores of the Baltic Sea, primarily in Germany’s state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern around the island of Rügen,” as Wikipedia has it. This year’s Boddencup was staged by Greifwald’s debating society for the third time in a row. It was also the final of the first season of Freie Debattierliga, or free debating league (FDL). Read more on a rainy weekend by the Baltic Sea and a fine tournament in the German version of this bit.

The motions

• Round 1: Dieses Haus würde die PID auch erlauben, um Embryonen nach von den Eltern bestimmten Eigenschaften zu selektieren.This house would allow pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to let parents select embryos according to features they determined. 
• Runde 2: Dieses Haus würde Journalisten und Medienunternehmern die Kandidatur für politische Ämter verbieten.This house would ban journalists and media entrepreneurs from campaigning for political offices.
• Runde 3: Dieses Haus glaubt, dass Länder mit Nahrungsmittelknappheit keine Nahrungsmittel exportieren sollen.This house believes that countries suffering from lack of aliment should not export food.
• Runde 4: Dieses Haus würde Lügendetektoren in Gerichtsverfahren zulassen.This house would allow lie detectors in court.
• Runde 5: Dieses Haus würde die Kultursubventionen abschaffen.This house would abolish subsidies for cultural projects.
• Halbfinale: Dieses Haus würde Patente auf Medikamente abschaffen und die Pharmaforschung verstaatlichen.This house would abrogate patents on drugs and socialise research on pharmaceuticals.
• Finale: Dieses Haus würde Untreue bei der Vermögensaufteilung im Scheidungsfall berücksichtigen.This house would consider infidelity when redividing assets in case of divorce.

Der Break

1. Berlin: Juliane Mendelsohn and Dessislava Kirova
2. Berlin: Filip Bubenheimer and Patrick Ehmann
3. Berlin: Johannes Häger and Georg Sommerfeld
4. Berlin: Farid Schwuchow and Jonas Werner
5. Berlin: Hauke Blume and John Eltringham
6. Jena: Friederike Meyer zu Wendischhoff and Robert Stendel
7. Berlin: Manuel Adams and Florian Umscheid
8. Hannover: Katharina Kleine-Tebbe and Philipp Schmidtke

(bold: the finalists)

Manuel Adams / apf