WSDC 2022 | Semi Final | China v Sri Lanka
Channel: International Debate Education Association (IDEA)
Date: 17/08/2022

The speakers have been assigned a position randomly and the speech does not necessarily reflect their view.

Sri Lanka is arguing in favour, China is arguing against.

The motion is: This House opposes academic activism

The info slide is:
 "Academic activism" refers to a phenomenon where academics take an explicitly political standpoint in their work and outside it with the aim of bringing about social change. 

Activist academics openly associate with different social and political groups or movements. The scope of academic activism entails being involved in policy debates, advising politicians, writing opinion pieces, etc. It also entails activism taking place within academic work, i.e. when performing research or teaching at the university. 

Examples include Judith Butler (American philosopher and gender theorist, and active in the Occupy movement), Taimur Rahman (Professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, and Secretary-General of the Mazdoor Kisan Party (communist political party)), Jordan Peterson (Now Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, and conservative public intellectual)