Since early days of the programme in 1995 the KPDP Czech Republic issues its irregular quarterly "Debatní informační list - Bulletin"

Originally, the Bulletin used to be bi-lingual. However - as there were more and more teams debating in Czech and less and less debating in English there was lesser input in English. Latest practice is that the Bulletin is written solely in Czech with gists of articles being made public only in electronic format. Four latest issues are available in English in this way:

Debating is often fun. Share some: Making stuff up? Debateholic? Gov. Bush-Al Gore pre-election debate.  Photos. Green Raoul. (BTW - there exists a competition for the "Ringosh of the year award" where most funny debate utterings are recorded. Check Czech version.

From: "Mark Summers" <marksummers1@hotmail.com>

Please please people, whatever we feel about ethics and making stuff up, let it ever get this far (see attached mail on a case in Malaysia):

From: "Richard Swales" <rjswales@hotmail.com>

When it comes to litigation, Malaysia has a long way to go to catch up with, say, the United States. But a spate of recent suits suggests that it's heading that way. The most recent case is playing out in a small court room in the southwestern suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, where the mother of a 17-year-old high-school student is suing the International School of Kuala Lumpur, claiming he was unfairly dropped from the school's debate team. Damages sought: a record 6 million ringgit ($2.4 million).

The case has sparked intense interest among legal circles, educators and foreign investors in the Malaysian capital. For starters, the thin, bespectacled student, Govind Sri Ram, is the son of a prominent Court of Appeals judge, Gopal Sri Ram. And many are surprised at the speed with which the case raced through Malaysia's legal labyrinth. The trial began on January 6, less than seven months after a writ was filed with the High Court. "Normally, in a civil case, you're lucky to get a hearing within five years,'' a veteran lawyer notes.

The main point of interest for lawyers is that the case is breaking new legal ground. "It's the first time in Malaysian history that someone is suing on the basis of unfair discrimination,'' notes one. "Malaysia has no laws on discrimination.''

....

Govind's mother claims in her writ that the school "unlawfully discriminated'' against her son by excluding him from a debate team that took part in a forensics tournament in Taipei last year. The mother is seeking damages from teacher Julie Dean, who served as coach of the school's debate team, and Gail Vendeland, the school board's chairwoman.

The writ says Dean "intentionally relied on insufficient evidence'' to accuse Govind of "tampering'' with material he had obtained from the Internet while preparing arguments for the tournament. The teacher allegedly acted against Govind at the instigation of other students who had "vested interests'' in preventing him from participating, Govind's lawyers wrote.

In a separate 12-page letter to the court, Govind's father says team-mates discriminated against his son because they "never forgave Govind'' for the victory that qualified him to compete in Taipei.

The school's defence statement denies that Govind was actually excluded from the tournament. It says the school could not send him to Taipei because the competition called for two-man teams and Govind "at the material time had no partner.'' The defence contends that Govind's partner had refused to compete alongside him because of questions about the source of some of Govind's preparation material.

The school also denies that Govind was dropped "on the basis that the Plaintiff had falsified evidence.'' The lawyers wrote: "Another member of the school team had queried a quotation by the Plaintiff from the Economist magazine, as they or any opposing team in a tournament were entitled to do under the rules governing the debate.''

....

Meanwhile, Govind Sri Ram continues studying at the International School of Kuala Lumpur, despite his suit. He's also back on its debate team, but teacher Dean is not his adviser. Govind initiated an injunction against Dean in September, prompting the school to agree that she would not serve as coach as long he is on the team.

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The Canadian journalist from the Far Eastern Economic Review, Murray Hiebert; was jailed in Malaysia for 6 weeks last year for contempt of court after writing this story.

---- rick

1.When someone asks You something Your answer is always: ”I don’t know”, ”I don’t understand” or ”My next speaker is going to talk more about that”.

2.You start calling Your friends A2 and A3.

3. You visit Litomyšl at least twice in a year.

4. You have decorated Your room with many boy band posters.

5. You start looking for contradictions in the biology teacher’s speech.

6. When You hear someone have had an argument, You immediately start wondering if it was an affirmative or a negative argument.

7. You only buy newspaper with articles related to a resolution.

8. You refer to all the people, who do not agree with you as the negative party.

9. Your Czech vocabulary is enlarged by many English words.

10. You always whisper in the cafeteria.

11. When someone shows you his or her middle finger, you start talking faster, so that you don’t get over the time limit.