Debate Club – Friday 7th October

Topic: “This house believes that the use of violence as a means of creating political change is never justified”

Last week, Debate Club’s discussion saw members use sophisticated arguments in order to navigate a difficult topic with deep ethical and historical implications.

Led by Thomas N and Gabe H, the proposition argued that violence unnecessarily creates destruction and, because it rejects compromise and respectful debate, it is by definition undemocratic. If we were to use violent methods, we would be no better than dictators and tyrants themselves. The opposition countered this line of thinking, with Aiden M positing that violence may be used as a method of last resort when other methods have failed. Furthering this point, Adam H argued that in many situations peaceful protest simply isn’t effective, pointing to how Nelson Mandela and French resistance fighters were forced to resort to violence in order to defeat worse evils. This led to a series of arguments regarding historical examples, with Aryan R of the proposition citing academic research and the example of Gandhi to argue that human rights may still be effectively protected through peaceful methods.

In the end it concluded that, whilst both teams made a convincing case, the proposition were the victors because of their more varied and better evidenced arguments. Aiden was awarded star debater this week for his large contribution to the argument of the opposition and excellently articulated points.

Debate Club meets every Friday morning before school in the library. New members are welcome.