Welcome Registration

‘Question Time’ style Global Uncertainties debate

In the style of the BBC’s ‘Question Time’ programme, panellists will address a range of questions related to issues such as terrorism and civil liberties, youth radicalisation, belief and politics, foreign policy, surveillance and privacy, as well as broader issues relating to the state of politics in the UK. Students, teachers, parents and other members of the community will be encouraged to put questions to an illustrious panel:

Speakers:

Welcome

Welcome from Queens’ School and explanation of the day from Helen Birtwistle, Debating Matters.

Plenary debate

What makes a terrorist?
Terrorism as we know it has its roots in the politics of the nineteenth and especially twentieth centuries. In the period following the Second World War, the main form of terrorism became that of separatist groups or ‘national liberation struggles’ in the colonial and post-colonial world, perpetrated by groups fighting for national sovereignty and political self-determination. Terrorism today is perhaps even less straightforward. The most prominent terrorist group, al-Qaeda, does not claim a specific territory or make specific demands. As the psychology of terrorists becomes an academic discipline, and government counter–terrorism strategies develop and intensify, don’t we need to ask ourselves what actually constitutes terrorism and what different understandings lie behind the various arguments about how to address it? In the past it was often said that ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ – what lies behind modern terrorism, and what makes a terrorist?

Speakers:

Our speakers, all with contrary views, will deliver a short speech and then engage in discussion with one another and the chair. Then the debate goes out to the audience so that students and teachers can contribute points and questions to the speakers. This opening plenary will present students with an exciting and stimulating start to the day and demonstrate the importance of debate and open minded thinking.

Break

Student Debates

Two simultaneous debates will take place allowing students maximum opportunity to experience and benefit from taking part in a debate.

GROUP 1: “Protecting the public from terrorism should come before civil liberties”
GROUP 2: “Extremist religious and political groups should be banned from university campuses”

Students will be divided into four groups of around 20 students, with a mix of students from different schools in each group. During this session – the student debate slot – students will participate in a debate of their own. Some will act as speakers and others as a probing and inquisitive audience. Two student speakers will be selected from each school to debate with two from another. The remaining will put points and questions to the student speakers from the audience and provide feedback to their peers on their performances at the end of the debate.

Lunch

Panel Debate

Has the war on terror failed?
Since President George Bush declared a ‘war on terror’ following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, debates have raged about the efficacy and legitimacy of the military, political and ideological campaign to defeat Islamic terrorism.  But whilst some argue that Western foreign policy only provokes further attacks, and others insist there can be no let up in the struggle to defeat terrorism, the one point of agreement would seem to be that there is widespread confusion about the aim of the ‘war on terror’. The invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the suspension of civil liberties in the US and the UK, can leave us in doubt that the war on terror is being fought both domestically and internationally. How should we assess the war on terror? Can we call it a success? Have the threats posed by terrorism been overstated? What has been the impact on our freedoms?

Speakers:

END