Round 1
This house would ban sports where the main purpose is to inflict pain
(e.g. boxing, martial arts).
Round 2
This house supports the Black Lives Matter movement’s use of the phrase “ACAB” or “All cops are bad”.
Round 3
This house would deny development aid to countries that fail to develop in a sustainable way.
Information
Development aid is long term financial aid given by government and other agencies to support the economic, environment, social, and political development of developing countries. This is different to humanitarian aid, which is designed to save lives and alleviate suffering during and in the immediate aftermath of emergencies.
Round 4
This house would nationalise and provide public access to metadata gathered by online multinational corporations.
Information
Metadata describes other data. It is data about data and thus, it provides information about a certain item’s content. The content can include, but it is not limited to, online images and posts. The metadata can include but is not limited to; the authors of the data, their geolocation, who has access to data, tags and keywords, language and licensing.
Round 5
As a developing country, this house would allow the manufacture and sale of generic drugs in cases where patents or international treaties are infringed
Round 6
This house believes that the general approach of states should be to repatriate refugees once they no longer have a well-founded fear of persecution or violence.
Round 7 (this motion was not debated)
This house would give workers’ rights to strong artificial intelligence.
Information
Strong artificial intelligence (AI) is a theoretical form of machine intelligence that is equal to human intelligence. Key characteristics of Strong AI include the ability to reason, solve puzzles, make judgements, plan, learn, and communicate.
Round 7
This house, as a previously disadvantaged minority, would forcibly take ownership of privately-owned homes during periods of national housing shortages.
Round 8
This house would abolish all private campaign financing in favour of giving each voter a democracy voucher.
Information
A democracy voucher is worth 100 dollars (in local currency) and can be used to fund any political campaign of a voter’s choosing. Private campaign financing is money that comes from private individuals, as well as groups such as trade unions, for-profit corporations and political action committees (PACs).
Open and Plate Quarter Final
This house opposes the rise of non-career politicians.
Information
For the purpose of this debate, a “career-politician” is an individual who has never worked outside the political arena or has no significant professional experience outside of the political arena. They have worked longer in politics than any other profession.
Open and Plate Semi-Final
This house prefers antiheroes as the dominant female archetype in literature and film.
Information
An antihero is a central character in a story, film, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes. Antiheroes often poses traits and character flaws such as selfishness, greed, and/or a lack of a moral compass. Examples of antiheroes include, but are not limited to Catwoman, Shrek, Jack Sparrow, Harley Quinn, and Jessica Jones.
Plate Final
This house regrets the portrayal of the daily lives of people living with a disability as inspirational.
Open Final
This house regrets the commercialisation of African culture by African American artists.