This house would boycott the Sochi Olympics - Poll result and moderator's report

Dear readers, the motion of this debate was "This House would boycott the Sochi Olympics". That is a very interesting debate, and because the OG have begun last week, opinions must be given. The two sides gave elaborated arguments, and I will try to highlight the main clash points of this debate. (Continues below.)

By WY

This house believes that "Frenchbashers" are right - poll result

This house would boycott the Sochi Olympics - closing speeches

Third proposing speech
Ladies and gentlemen, both great ideas and nonsense have been said in this debate. Please allow me to clarify our point of view and explain you why most of the arguments used by the opposition are misleading, at the very least. ET said that Russia wanted to show that they are able to organize the Olympics. Indeed they did succeed, but at what cost ? Do we not need to prevent this from happening again ? (Continues below.)
By GM

Third opposing speech

Honorable judges, fellow members of the opposing team, dearest members of the government, we have already won this debate and I will demonstrate this in my speech. (Continues below.)
By GG

This house believes that "Frenchbashers" are right - closing speeches

Third proposing speech
Dear debaters, dear readers, what a debate! There is such passion, such appetite from both sides, it is really entertaining. Unfortunately, the opposition should probably focus all this energy on more adapted activities for them, instead of wasting it with hollow arguments. As President Hollande poses for the Time Magazine cover [1], Frenchbashers are really trendy lately. His desperate moves, in order to save what remains from the past French glory, are laudable but useless. The whole English world are witnesses of his words, and analyses with more or less impartiality. (Continues below.)
By TK

Third opposing speech

Ladies and gentlemen,  it has become clear throughout this debate that there was no serious exchange of ideas. Rather than engaging in a rational discourse about the French model, its strengths and its weaknesses, the proposing team has opted for creating confusion by defending tautologies like "everything is NOT alright" and "we do NOT live in a perfect world", not to mention them considering paid maternity leave a "useless thing". I think that the proposition team likes having heavily pregnant women in the workplaces, getting emotional, vomiting and talking about how wonderful being pregnant is! (Continues below.)
By AB

This house would boycott the Sochi olympics - rebuttal speeches

Second proposing speech
Ladies and gentlemen, on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games of Sochi, it is high time to understand why going there is a mistake. One after the other, scandals have multiplied around the organization of this major international event, ranging from anti-gay measures and flouting of human rights to corruption. We believe that taking into account the multiple issues, boycotting these Olympic Games is the right solution. (Continues below.)
By QM

Second opposing speech
Good morning, honorable members of the jury ! After a close read of the first two speeches, my side would like to answer and develop some of the ideas raised by the proposers. First of all, your very definition of boycotting the Sochi’s Winter Olympic Games is a bit tough, don’t you think ? You would recommend a general boycott: no spectators or athletes from France. How unfair for the athletes! Let’s talk about freedom there! Just like my dear colleague JD said, these athletes trained for four years for this event: it is world-famous, watched, attended and known by billions of people. It would be a missed opportunity for them to be known worldwide for their athletic abilities. And your advice is to say to them “Sorry guys! Because of the Russian internal affairs, you should really not compete!”. Don’t you think this reaction sounds like a Russian law? Boycotting the Sochi’s Games is contradictory to our values of democracy and freedom. (Continues below.)
By ET

THBT the "Frenchbashers" are right - rebuttal speeches

Second proposing speech

Dear debaters, dear readers, we’re all living in a perfect and wonderful world. There’s no point in criticizing, everything is fine the way it is.

Well, it may depend on the reader, but I think that most of you would probably object my first statement, saying that it’s actually pretty far from reality. Fair enough, I may agree with you, but by doing so I would also have to admit that even my second point, the fact that there’s nothing that should be changed or criticized, is pretty much indefensible. (Continues below.)
By AD

Second opposing speech

Dear debaters, dear readers, we believe that the member of the proposition team is trying to deceive you. They fiercely pretend that France is a country to bash, as it is the trend in the English and German media. And yet, they have chosen to come here, to study in a leading French engineering school where they receive a high quality education, for free. How ungrateful! If you vote in favour of the proposition, you can be sure they won’t even thank you. (Continues below.)
By AC

THW boycott the Sochi Olympics - opening speeches

First proposing speech

Ladies and Gentleman, on the 7^th of February, inside the Fisht Olympic stadium, the Winter Olympic games of 2014 shall be proclaimed open. The opening ceremony will take place in front of roughly 40 000 spectators in the stadium and millions of viewers worldwide. As competition and sports will be celebrated, media attention will be focused on a resort town in Russia. Generally, the Olympics are a cause for celebration, but for the past two years Sochi has been at the heart of a major controversy that increased in magnitude to the level where we got to the conclusion that a radical solution is needed. Therefore, this house is in favor of a boycott of Sochi’s games. (Continues below.)

 

By YH

First opposing speech
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. As NEK said, the decision of going to Sochi or not will have a great influence on both the geostrategic role of Russia in the world and the way the citizens of the world will look at the human rights. Therefore, we have to consider every little thing for which we could be blamed if we don’t go. (Continues below.)

By JD