| Introduction | 11/22 | 11/23 | 11/24 | 11/25 | 11/26 | 11/27 | 11/28 | 11/29 | Alfred C. Snider | Debate Central |
My
acquaintance with Chile began several years ago when in 1999 Rodrigo Rojas,
director of Sociedad de Debate at Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago contacted
me and was interested in attending the international portion of the World Debate
Institute summer program at the University of Vermont. Rodrigo did attend and
I was extremely impressed. An accomplished poet and educator in Chile, Rodrigo
felt a strong need to invigorate debating in Chile in order to further enable
Chilean democracy in the post-Pinochet era. His knowledge and vision was inspirational,
and I knew that I had gained not only a new colleague in promoting debate, but
a new friend as well.
On
his return to Chile Rodrigo was very active, both in terms of promoting debate
in Chile (university and school debate) but also in mobilizing pro-debate forces
throughout Latin America. In May 2001 he organized the first international Spanish
language debate tournament, the Torneo Hispanoamericano de Debate, held in Santiago
and hosted by his university. The tournament drew teams from Spain, Bolivia,
El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and the USA. I took a
pair of English-speakers to the tournament and they debated in Spanish. The
experience was fantastic and I got to know many wonderful people, like Benito
Escobar, Jose Julio, Roberto Vega, and of course Manuel Montt Balmeceda, rector
of Diego Portales. I also met wonderful debate supporters like Drina Rendic,
Rene Lara and Paola Bernales.
Rodrigo
won a Fulbright Fellowship to study Poetry at New York University with Noble
prize poet Derrick Wolcott and came to New York City. Benito Escobar took the
helm at Sociedad de Debate at Diego Portales and philosopher Francisco Mas joined
the team there. A huge outreach program began at the high school level, now
with hundreds of teachers and some 1500 competing debaters. Benito and Jose
Julio attended WDI in 2001 along with outstanding students Andrea and Mattias.
I met the UDP group again at the second Torneo Hispanoamericano in Puerto Rico,
along with tournament champion Gonzalo Downey from Universidad Central de Chile.
Alvaro Ferrer of Universidad Catolico also came to WDI last summer, sponsored
(along with Gonzalo) by Drina Rendic and COBA (Corporacion Cultural de los Barnechea).
After WDI I continued to hear about the advancement of the debate outreach program
now organized by Benito and the growth of debating overall in Chile.
Last
Fall Drina Rendic suggested that I come to Chile for the finals of the university
debating championship in late November. I was excited by this possibility and
Universidad Diego Portales also offered to sponsor my stay in Chile. As the
non-stop debate competition in the USA raged throughout October and November
plans took shape for a one-week visit to Chile that would include the university
finals, seminars for judges and university debaters, workshops for high school
teachers and students involved in the debate outreach effort, and assistance
in fundraising for these and other outreach efforts.
My
ticket arrived, apparently donated by United Airlines, and I prepared training
materials and lectures for translation into Spanish. I was ready to go. Drina
Rendic of COBA and Universidad Diego Portales had made it all possible.