IDEA Visits Bangladesh

In mid-November IDEA made its first appearance in Bangladesh for the inaugural Bangladesh Open held at the Islamic University of Technology (IUT) just north of the capital Dhaka. The event was organized by the Bangladesh Debate Council, which invited IDEA to come help adjudicate and train debaters. Students came from Bangladeshi high schools and universities as well as a contingent from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) to make this an international tournament.

On my first day in the country, I along with Claudia Newman-Martin from Australia, trained a group of students in the British Parliamentary debate format and in debate/argumentation more generally. We covered a variety of topics in our workshop, from hate speech to globalization’s effect on the poor to sanctions on Burma, to demonstrate some of the most effective tactics in debating. Chief among these was an injunction to set up a level playing field and win debates on wit – something there is no shortage of in any debate community – as opposed to deception. The students from this training, mostly high school-aged, were extremely enthusiastic and well-informed, demonstrated by the fact that two of the students from the training even placed 3rd in the Bangladesh Open.

The topics at the Bangladesh Open ranged from space exploration to the protection of cultural heritage to Kurdish independence to sex education. The final round was a particularly interesting topic centering on the right of companies to refuse employment to smokers. The sizable audience got to have a few laughs and was entertained by the two Bangladeshi and two IIUM teams in the round – although one of the IIUM debaters is a Dhaka native. One of the most rewarding things for me to see at the tournament was that debates continued after the formal round was over, indicating an enthusiasm for critical engagement that exceeds mere competition.

During my last few days in Bangladesh I went to visit a couple high schools to introduce students to debate and to hear what young people in Dhaka had to say. At the Aga Khan School, I fielded lots of questions about debate and IDEA, introduced a few brief concepts of debate, and then facilitated an interesting (and lively!) debate about the merits of arranged marriages. At the Baccalaureate International Tutorial, I got the chance to hear the students’ views on the influence of American culture on Bangladesh and had a great time listening.

If you’re a Bangladeshi reading this – thanks to all for showing me a good time in your country; I am now craving paan and spicy curry in the freezing Seoul winter! I hope you enjoy some of the photos posted to this blog and I hope to see you again.

Alex.