Asian re-unification committee respond to AUDC

From http://groups.yahoo.com/group/koreadebatelist/message/507

The ADC Unity Challenge

Dear Asia:
Bad news: The AUDC excom has vetoed the agreement to not offer bids for 2009 until Australs in Manila.

Ultimately I am dismayed by this development....it puts the All Asians in a tenuous position as they have to make a choice about what to do.

The division is bad, continues to be bad, and should be ended in whatever compromise way possible.

I feel pretty confident that if we took a poll of all attendees at these tournaments and offered them the following choices: (A) go to Asians, (B) go to AUDC, or (C) go to a Unified Tournament, the result would be that most people would choose the unified tournament. This was the voice that the vast majority of attendees to Worlds spoke with. We have an obligation to that voice to do something.

So....what should we do????

I think the Unity Committee needs to fulfill our duty:
-(1) Create a unified constitution that founds the Asian Debate Championship (or some other name...though that seems simple enough and a reasonable compromise between the two). Our goal remains the same: to create a unified competition based on a compromise constitution and take it Australs as planned.
-(2) Agree to take bids for the 20th Asian Debate Championship at Australs in Manila (the number counting all the All Asians and all of the AUDC's prior to it 15 All Asian + 4 AUDC)
-(3) Deliver the unified constitution to both tournaments and request approval/advising from both tournaments on revisions which can be finalized at Australs, while notifying both tournaments that bids for the unified tournament will be taken in Manila.

However, as this committee is not created by either tournament, and neither tournament is bound by it (which was made clear by Estelle) ....neither is either tournament capable of disbanding the committee nor is either tournament capable of telling the committee to quit working.

This only makes sense if people are willing to take a stand and make it clear that they will go to a Unified Tournament even if they are outvoted, or if their ExCom and "leaders" threaten them with whatever nebulous claims of stigmatization or whatever.

In essence we need to stop working for our "sides." If it isn't obvious to everyone that taking sides is stupid yet, then you have missed the boat. We need to all be working for Asia and stop trying to represent our own self interest.

No one is against transparency. No one wants an unfair tournament. No one wants crappy adjudication.

However, some people clearly do want to protect their fiefdoms to the detriment of Asia as a whole....we should IGNORE those people until they provide constructive help in raising the standard of Asian debating by helping with this process.

Vague references to "principle" opposition without specific identification of what those principles are need to be scrutinized. When they become specific, they should be listened to and integrated into the new Constitution if they have merit.

Everyone should be invited to join the ADC, but no Committee, organization or single institution should be allowed to disrupt this process.

I honestly believe that we are at a unique moment right now....we need to seize it. The Worlds should have been a wake up call to all of us: division only serves the interest of a small few, at the expense of the strength of Asia as a whole, and at the expense of developing regions that can substantially strengthen the quality of debate throughout Asia.

So here is the challenge: Will you and your institution agree to attend a Unified Asians (to be known as the 20th ADC, or something else palatable to everyone) EVEN IF your current organization (AllAsians or AUDC) votes against the tournament?

Please reply with a public or private backchannel. I am making a list!
--Jason Jarvis

Adjudication Core for All Asians

Dear All,

I, Sarajit Baral, Chief Adjudicator of "15th All Asian Inter-VarsityDebating Championship" , take immense pleasure to announce that NSUAll Asians has appointed the remaining members of its adjudicationteam.

Jason Jarvis (South Korea), Adiba Shareen (Malaysia),Siddharth Chauhan (India) and Jess Lopez (Phillipine) have agreed tojoin the team as Deputy Chief Adjudicators. We have also appointedSinha Ibna Humayun as the Assistant to Chief Adjudicator for theteam.

Besides that, Alfred Snider (USA) has already agreed to share hissheer knowledge and experience in our tournament as the TabDirector.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of thosewho applied for the DCA position.

NSU for years have contributed in the development and enrichment of Debate and intellectual argumentation in Bangladesh and South Asia. I hope with the current Adjudication Core we will able to ensure aquality adjudication in the tournament.

Looking forward to see you in the Tournament.
Thanks & Regards
Sarajit Baral
CA,
NSU All Asians
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AUDC/message/726

Bangladesh bid for AUDC 09....or do they?

Bangladesh has announced it's intention to bid for Asian University Debating Championships 2009.

However right after I had posted the announcement one of the next articles I came across on my Google Reader was one casting doubt on the bidding process following a meeting during the recent World Championships aimed at exploring the possibility of reuniting the All Asians and AUDC.

AUDC split from All Asians a couple of years ago but as the people involved in that bitter dispute graduate and move on wounds may be healing and the two organisations may try to work together again.

Update: It now appears that while the AUDC are open to the suggestion of "unified Asians" they are still going ahead with accepting bids for 2009. The Chair of AUDC has welcomed Bangladesh "getting the ball rolling" and engouraged other colleges to bid for 2009 AUDC therefore I assume it will be 2010 at the earliest before any reunified tournament is held (if at all). This gives the AUDC and All Asian organisations time to discuss and vote on any proposals.