Tin Puljić, top speaker of the Leiden Open – © Marina Kojić

The team Oxford Traitors A (Gigi Gil, Tommy Peto; Oxford) has won the final of the Leiden Open 2019. Out of Opening Opposition, they defeated the Opening Government ESL justice warriors (Jure Hederih, Sarah Brdnik; Oxford/Edinburgh), the Closing Government Yugoslavia A (Tin Puljić, Miloš Marjanović; Zagreb/Belgrade) and the Closing Opposition British Manufacturing Jobs – Coming to a Country Near You (Duncan Crowe, Sheraz Qureshi; Alumni). The motion read “This house believes that ‘Dulce et Decorum Est pro Patria Mori’ (i.e. the belief that it is sweet and right to die for your country)”. The final was judged by Huyen Nguyen (chair), Aisling Tully, Anna Neuber, Daan Spackler, Romée Lind, Sonia Veltkamp and Ybo Buruma.

In the novice final, the team NYUAD (Omair Rehman, Akash Jaini; Abu Dhabi) took home the victory as Opening Government against Opening Opposition Slavname-Slavname but actually from Vienna so pls no bias (Natalija Ljubic, Marina Kojić; Vienna), Closing Government DSDC A ( Marit van den Helder, Jonathan Kellogg; DSDC) and Closing Opposition Beginner’s luck (Thomas Vissers, Mara Burgstede; Nijmegen). They debated the motion “This House prefers a world with a dominant norm of not expressing strong emotions”. The adjudication panel consisted of Ybo Buruma (chair), Aisling Tully, Mike Weltevrede, Raffy Marshall and William Prescott.

Best speaker of the tournament was Tin Puljić with an average of 85.20 speaker points. Best novice speaker was Rifka Roos with 79.20 points on average.

Open Break:
1. Yugoslavia A (Tin Puljić, Miloš Marjanović) – 15 pts. | 842 spks.
2. Xavier & Jack (Xavier Redmond, Jack Solomon) – 12 pts. | 827 spks.
3. Oxford Traitors A (Gigi Gil, Tommy Peto) – 12 pts. | 821 spks.
4. ESL justice warriors (Jure Hederih, Sarah Brdnik – 12 pts. | 817 spks.
5. DSDC B (Floris Holstege, Elian Lavrijsen) – 11 pts. | 822 spks.
6. Oxford RW (Geneva Roy, Peter Wallich) – 11 pts. | 792 spks.
7. Pagan Ronald Reagan from Copenhagen (Pierce Ricketts, Daniel Hansen) – 11 pts. | 780 spks.
8. British Manufacturing Jobs – Coming to a Country Near You (Duncan Crowe, Sheraz Qureshi) – 10 pts. | 810 spks.

Novice Break:
1. Slavname-Slavname but actually from Vienna so pls no bias (Natalija Ljubic, Marina Kojić) – 9 pts | 764 spks.
2. NYUAD (Omair Rehman, Akash Jaini) – 9 pts | 762 spks.
3. Beginner’s luck (Thomas Vissers, Mara Burgstede) – 8 pts | 762 spks.
4. DSDC A (Marit van den Helder, Jonathan Kellogg) – 8 pts | 761 spks.

Judge Break (in alphabetical order):
Abigail LeBlanc, Aisling Tully, Alwin Bakker, Anna Neuber, Daan Spackler, Ellen Goltstein, Emma Lucas, Enrique Gutierrez, Huyen Nguyen, Lena Martinović, Lizzy Groenenberg, Martin Devenney, Mike Weltevrede, Raffy Marshall, Roel Becker, Romée Lind, Simon Martina Pérez, Sonia Veltkamp, Vidan Simardzic, William Prescott and Ybo Buruma

The CA panel consisted of Roel Becker, Raffy Marshall, Aisling Tully and Huyen Nguyen. Marthe Wijfjes was responsible for the tab while Ybo Buruma acted as chief convenor.

The Motions:

R1: THBT the European Union should expel Hungary

R2: Infoslide: Sci-Hub is a website that provides free access to millions of paywalled and open-access research papers and books. Sci-Hub obtains paywalled papers by presenting illicitly held university usernames and passwords to the publishers’ websites via the universities’ proxy websites. Athena provides alternative open source publishing for academics online.

This House Supports the rise of websites that provide free access to open source and pay-wall protected academic resources

R3: Infoslide: For the purpose of this debate, “the judicialisation of politics” refers to the following phenomenon: issues that are classically seen as part of the political domain are increasingly decided on by courts through legislation. Examples include, but are not limited to: the Dutch state successfully being sued to take stronger measures against climate change (Urgenda) and forcing political parties to allow women as candidates (SGP), the British Supreme Court deciding whether the Lower House should have a vote on Brexit and Trumps measures being increasingly challenged in courts.

THR the judicialisation of politics

R4: Infoslide: A natural person is a person of flesh and blood, a ‘real’ person. The term is used to distinguish people from companies (legal persons).

THW allow natural persons to pay people not to vote

R5: Infoslide: You are a talented person in your early twenties who is about to start their career. You have the choice between a high profile job in which you will make a lot of money and work a lot of hours (e. g. banking, law at a big firm) and a lower profile job which pays less which you are more passionate about (e. g. teaching, working for a charity, academia).

THW choose the job they are passionate about

SF: Infoslide: Asian NATO is a proposed international alliance which unites current NATO with western-aligned Asian countries. These countries are: India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. The structure of the alliance treaty replicates all the clauses of the NATO treaty.

This House supports Asian NATO

NF: This House prefers a world with a dominant norm of not expressing strong emotions

F: Infoslide: Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of disappointed shells that dropped behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. — Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin, If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

This house believes that ”Dulce et Decorum Est pro Patria Mori” (i.e. the belief that it is sweet and right to die for your country)

jm.