Domination

I just returned from Model UN this afternoon, where Jonathan and I redeemed ourselves once again by taking control of the General Assembly (B).

I had to arrive late because of a presentation in my economics class at Reed, so I missed most of the substantive debate on our one topic. During this time Jonathan (as Vietnam) steered the committee, gaining broad support for a heavily amended resolution on preparations for natural disasters. When I came in, we were moving toward debate on resolutions from subcommittees.

A surprising number of resolutions dealt with furthering women's rights, family planning services, contraception, and sexual education. After all, beyond just general education, the protection, education, and empowerment of women, aimed especially at lowering fertility rates, probably represents the most effective means of correcting problems of inequity, poverty, child abuse, and so forth. Representing Pakistan, I led the charge against these acts of what I declared to be "cultural imperialism." In the end, I think the committee and I were able to suppress all but one of these "culturally insensitive" measures. It is always interesting to see what happens when Arab bloc nations and Muslim nations are more active than the big five or the other major economic players. Another interesting development was an intense rivalry between Vietnam and Cuba, who also were some of the most active delegates. I think Cuba ended up deadlocking itself a little bit by dogmatically opposing every position that Vietnam took. As Vietnam, Jonathan was substantially more reasonable and palatable, except for when he stood up twice and effectively said, "What I like most about Cuba is how he stands up, talks, and everything he says makes absolutely no sense."

Lastly, and most importantly, Jonathan and I picked up both of the speaker awards given out in our committee. I was the best "defender of policy," and he was the best "consensus builder." Kim and Jacek (a freshman, and our successor in so many ways) also received awards in their committees. Oh, how we love to dominate people in verbal arguments... especially in unison.