http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/04/camspotlight.htm
Interview of Alex Dukalskis, Coordinator of IUT First Bangladesh Open 2007
Interviewed by Mahdin Mahboob and Feeda Hasan Shahed
SC(Star Campus): Please describe for our readers the event in brief the participating teams, the debate format and other such things?
AL(Alex) :I think there were around 24 teams, and the teams are two persons each and there was a mixture of high school students and university students some of the high school debaters looked very promising and one can only wonder what status they’ll reach once they are in the universities. There were participants from two countries, Malaysia and Bangladesh, although the students from Malaysia were from different countries, including Sudan and other Middle Eastern countries.
SC :This debate, unlike most of the other debates held in this country, was in World Debate Format. Tell us a bit about this format.
AL :Ya, there are different kinds of debate formats, usually debate formats are one team against one team..
SC :Like Parliamentary Debates?
AL :Ya, exactly… However, here the emphasis is on a bit more subtlety, where the final two teams need to bring something new to this debate, so they have to support their side of the house, but in a different way.
SC :How is it different?
AL :In this format you are actually competing against people by arguing for the team points, but in a better way. You have to show that you are better by adding something new, which is like reaching the same end but in a different path. And it’s modeled after the real world, parliaments, where there are coalitions; two parties might have the same end but different means to get there.
SC :Do you think this will pave the way for more such world debates here with participation from more countries in the future?
AL :Well, its certainly a possibility all these things start very small, the first one is always a trial run even with the first national World University Debate in US, there were only four or five countries. So, these things start small, and grow gradually. The progress of the internet and communications things move quicker these days. So I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years you see a really big, more diverse type of event.
SC :What is Bangladesh’s scenario in perspective of the World Debate?
AL :I saw a lot of potential in Bangladesh’s school kids and I won’t be surprised if I see Bangladeshi debaters doing very well in an international tournament. A guy from BBC is teaching the debating skills to younger ones, who one day will teach even younger ones, so its like a snowballing effect. I went to Aga Khan School this morning and saw 40 students who have not done debate before but are interested and tomorrow I am going to the BIT school and it’s the same situation there. Its very important because whenever we think of debate, we tend to think of it as an academic sport but it also includes critical thinking, the way young people look at the world, and the things they are interested in. The organization I work for encourages critical thinking and civic engagement this can lead to things like effective democracy and other benefits. These are important things, not only for developing countries, but also the developed world.
SC :What were the themes of the different debate sessions in this tournament?
AL :We had topics including environment, independence of Kurds in Iraq, space exploration, terrorism, multinational business and their responsibilities, human rights students are encouraged to be well versed in a variety of topics.
SC :I think that pretty much rounds up the discussion. Thanks a lot Alex.
AL :Thanks to you too.
Tasnim’s comments….
Tasnim…(Student of ‘Islamic International University, Malaysia, originally from Sudan ))
SC :How was the event did you like it?
TS :Tournaments like these are very good exposure for people. You learn a lot, you get a lot of new arguments coming from different perspectives. If you only debate within your own society, the same ideas are being passed around. But the moment you get to the international level, the moment you get to debate with Bangladeshi or Malaysian people, you get a lot of new perspectives and ideas.
SC :What do you think about Bangladesh?
TS :It’s nice – I’ve been here for about four days, and it’s so sad that our trip has to be so short, and most of our time is at the tournament. We couldn’t do much sightseeing but went to Jamalpur, where our trainer, Abdul Lateef, who’s from Bangladesh, took us to his home.
SC :Do you plan to come back to Bangladesh?
TS :Of course! I hope this will be an annual event so that we can come back here more often.
