The Busiest Month of the Year

March is here, the end of the 162nd session approaches but there is so much to do before we finish up for the year...

Last night saw the Philosoph host a debate on WikiLeaks. The motion That This House Believes WikiLeaks is a Threat to the International Community proved insightful, stimulating and entertaining. The guest speakers, Daniel P McCarthy, graduate of London School of Economics and Dublin Institute of Technology Lecturer Harry Browne gave high quality speeches with an amazing amount of detail and persuasive examples where the leaking of information was both good and bad for the international community.  The topic produced some very fine speeches from the crowd and the Philosoph woould like to extend their gratitude to everyone who attended and contributed.

Development will continue every Tuesday at 19.00 outside the Kane. Tonight the format will be Maidens style so people will have the opportunity to work on their oratory skills individually without having to align their arguments with a teammates. This is to prepare people for National Maidens which is on March 18th in Dublin. This is an individual debating competition fo new speakers only and Sophie Scannell is the Debuty Chief Adjudicator. UCC will be sending a large delegation and urge all speakers to come to development tonight and see what it is like. The final of our internal Maidens Competition is taking place tomorrow night, Wednesday March 9th at 19.00 in the North Wing. We hope you all can make it and offer support to the finalists; Saoirse Carberry, Davy Jones, Nick Mishkee Liddane, Ciara Grant, Aisling Ryan and Eva Cummins. The motion is That This House Would Legalise Incest between Consenting Adults.

This weekend is he UL Intervarsities. If you are interested in going but have not yet signed up please e-mail Sophie at competitive@uccphiloosph.com. We are approaching the end of the debating season with only the UL and DCU IVs during the semester. Make sure you attend at least one of these so that can you leave the circuit happy with the year of debating you put in and prepare yourself perhaps for the European Championship Trials (details of Trials will be posted at a later date).

Next Monday, March 14th is the Aid Debate. As usual it will start at 19.30 in Kane G19. There will be two guest speakers and their speeches will be followed by an open floor in which the audience can contribute. Should Ireland continue to provide foreign aid when the money is so badly needed at home? Do we have a moral responsibility to people in develoing countries? Or are we in fact failing in our responsibility to our own citizens by sending money abroad when they are in desperate need? Hear the arguments form both sides, find out what your peers think and share your views with us this Monday.

Nominations for all elected committee positions for the 162nd session are now open on the forum at http://www.uccphilosoph.com/. Nominations close at 18.00 on March 21st. If you are interested in running for any position check out the forums and talk to anybody on committee.

Also coming up this session is the Gold Medal (an internal debating competition open to all UCC students) on Monday, March 21st; the DCU IV on March 25th and 26th; our Annual General Meeting on March 28th and in April we are hosting the final of the Irish Mace.

WikiLeaks

This Monday, March 7th at 19.30 in Kane G19 the Philosoph and International Relations Society are debating the pros and cons of WikiLeaks. There will be a two person debate which will be followed by an open floor debate in which the audience will have the opportunity to share their views on the controversial site. Does WikiLeaks contribution to the upholding of ideals like freedom of information outweigh the danger it poses to international security? Some advocate it is not a danger to security. What do you think?

WikiLeaks exploded onto the scene last Novemeber when it began publishing over 200000 US  embassy cables. All sources are anonymous. Does WikiLeaks have a right to publish confidential documents? And if so do states have any right to compell employees to sign confidential and secrecry contracts if such staff can leak information to WikiLeaks anonymously without repercussion? Do the rights of freedom to information and expression extend as far as WikiLeaks advocate? Or is it right to limit them? Come on  Monday to explore these issues and more and help us grapple with the questions that have been forced upon the World by Julian Assange.