[debate-l] RE: What is IDEA's Mission in Asia?

Sun Oct 1 11:31:55 CDT 2006

Hi Jason,

I appreciate your strong feelings in this matter, but still do not think
there's any real problem in there being a tournament in Seoul and
another in Beijing (or the Oxford IV for that matter).  You may not
think a two hour flight is very far, but for many it is.  Nonetheless,
point well taken: we will, in the future, try to do a better job in
coordinating our activities with you.  We hope that you will help us by
doing the same.

All the best,

Noel

P.S. Your announcement of your tournament never got through to our
listservs.  You may want to re-send it.

Noel S. Selegzi
International Debate Education Association
Open Society Institute 
400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 10019
Ph: (212) 547-6938
Fx: (212) 548-4610
www.idebate.org
To Join IDEA: www.idebate.org/join
To Support IDEA: www.idebate.org/support
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Jarvis [mailto:debatekorea at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 11:38 AM
To: Noel Selegzi; jeanne4 at wharton.upenn.edu;
debate-l at mailhost.soros.org; university-l at mailhost.soros.org
Subject: What is IDEA's Mission in Asia?

 The crux of your position is that because people in
Asia havent joined IDEA, you have no way of knowing
about regional events.  

This is not true for a few reasons:

1) IDEA members (Claremont) have attended the
Northeast Asian tournament every year it has been
held.
2) It has been advertised on your listservs every year
(including this one).
3) A Korean team won the IDEA Youth Forum this year.  
 Was it honestly impossible to consult with them?
4) IDEA members have been in Northeast Asia, as
recently as July and August and were well aware of the
competition.  Your failure to communicate within your
own organization is hardly our fault.
5) Debaters in Asia are not attempting to develop
debate in Europe or America. Why should they consult
you?

You also say that you are under no obligation to
communicate or consult with people in the region that
you are planning to work in....even when IDEA is
entering a region for the first time.

This is NONSENSE.

The real question, Noel, is this:
What are the GOALS of IDEA? WHY are you holding debate
tournaments in China?  

If your goal is to promote debate in a region, then
you have an OBLIGATION to SEEK OUT, CONTACT, and
COORDINATE with the people who are already doing some
of those things in the region where you plan to work. 

WHY do you have such an obligation?

(A) Asian debating pre-dates IDEA.  IDEA is neither
necessary nor sufficient for the promotion of Asian
debate.  Democracies here may be developing (Thailand
notwithstanding), but debate has its own traditions. 
The All Asians is entering its 14th year. This isnt
Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union.  

(B) If all you plan to do is import people with no
local knowledge, and to ignore the needs of the
region; be prepared to run an irrelevant organization
that meets with hostility.  At a mimimum, you have
successfully alienated the Korean college community,
and potentially Japan as well...Since Korea is hosting
the 14th All Asians, which will be making its first
appearance in Northeast Asia ever, I would say this is
an inauspicious start to your plans for Asia.

(C) Efficient use of resources would mean
coordination, rather than duplication. (Obviously)  

(D) Given your professed lack of knowledge, its
possible your own efforts could augmented by the local
knowledge of people living here. (Is this fact really
surprising?)  

(E) By not coordinating your efforts you run the risk
of DAMAGING regional debate.  For Northeast Asia this
is true in the following ways:

-Asian debaters/coaches that want to travel in
November will have to choose, or will be unable to
attend both competitions because they are obligated to
one tournament.  The fact is that you didnt put
together a small domestic competition for only Chinese
people.  IDEA is ACTIVELY LOBBYING non-Chinese to
attend.  This damages the other regional tournament
that is taking place in Seoul (which, FYI, is only a 2
hour flight from Beijing).  

Personally, despite being the Chief Adjudicator for
the next All Asians, I cant go to Beijing because I
have obligations to the Northeast Asian Open.  The
Beijing competition would be a great opportunity to
expose more Chinese debaters to the Asian
championships, and other regional events.  I am hardly
the only person who will not have the option of
attending both. 

-It isolates China from Asia.  While its well and good
for Americans to swoop in to save the Chinese with
their debate knowledge, your Adjudication team has
never attended the All Asians or the AUDC (do you even
know what that acronym stands for?).  I didnt see a
whole lot of experience in the WUDC format on their
CV's either.  What will the Chinese do when you leave?
 How will this help them participate in ASIAN
DEBATING? 

Undoubtedly it is good that people have some debating
rather than none, and there will be people in China
who get a tournament that they might not have had.

However, those goals could have been achieved and both
tournaments could be better if IDEA were to coordinate
with people living in Asia.  No explanation was given
for why November is the only month of the year you
could hold the competition in.  Overlapping with
events in Europe and the US is not a justification for
the dates you chose.  The Asian calendar would be easy
to obtain and should take primacy.  

Ultimately, the explanations for the lack of
coordination are poor and disingenuous.  IDEA could
have, and SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.  

Furthermore, despite using polite rhetoric, your
response makes it clear that IDEA needs to spend a
good deal of time developing a clear Mission with
regards to Asia, as well as streamlining its own
internal communications before it seeks to meddle in
the affairs of a region which might very well be
better off without its help.

Jason L. Jarvis
Assistant Dean and Lecturer

Korea Development Institute Graduate School of Public Policy and
Management
http://www.kdischool.ac.kr/
Office: 82-2-3299-1031
Email: debatekorea at kdischool.ac.kr

Korea Debate Listserv
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/koreadebatelist/

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