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Speeches of the MUNOL Association

Here you can find speeches held by MUNOL Association representatives. The most recent speeches are shown on this page and you may check out previous speeches via the archive found on the right

Closing Speech 2010

by Christian Kreuder-Sonnen, Chairman of the MUNOL Association

Dear Madame President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I congratulate everyone here for setting up and conducting this wonderful conference which - in my eyes - was a plain success. The accounts given by the Chairpersons on the Committee work as well as the general atmosphere I could feel during the past few days have convinced me that the special spirit underlying MUNOL has once again been revived.

Now, I am the Chairman of the MUNOL Association, the legal framework and consulting body for the actual student officers. This function requires me – as a matter of course – to generally like what I see. I shouldn't be in this position if I did not! Yet on the other hand, I am also a graduate student of political science and international relations at the University of Munich. And this function requires me – as another matter of course – to question and critique everything I see regarding its effectiveness, its legitimacy, and the political message it conveys.

What I want to do is to present you a few critical thoughts that are currently discussed in my discipline and see what we could learn from them or how they should be rejected due to what we already know.

To begin with, the most recent issue of the "International Studies Perspectives", a popular American academic journal of international relations, contains two articles that review aspects of role-playing simulations as a tool for teaching international politics in higher education. The first article claims, and it made me furious when I read it, that role-plays and simulations may be fun for students, but that they do not bring about any improvements in learning as evidenced in exam results. Let me quote its conclusion: "Overall, the simulation consumed substantial amounts of time and effort for both students and the instructor inside and outside of class, but it was associated with a negligible and probably statistically meaningless improvement in learning outcomes for students. Given these results, it is questionable whether this simulation was a useful pedagogical exercise."

Dear teachers: please don't let them get you on that one! As shortsighted as this argument is, as clearcut must be our reply: bullshit! What students learn at a simulation congress like this one cannot be tested in exams (maybe except for improvements in English). Communications, diplomatic behavior, the logic of persuasion in deliberations, mutual understanding – how are these soft-skills to be empirically verified? And what could be the brain challenge of researching the role and seriously representing the interests of a foreign nation other than a huge learning experience? The point that activities like MUNOL are not really fitting into the narrow confines of schools' teaching plans, especially in the natural sciences, is an ever returning argument against the conduction of and making available the necessary resources for participation in Model United Nations, even at the Thomas-Mann-School. My claim is, and the back row will love me for this: "non scholae, sed vitae discimus" - it's not always about grades and report cards, this is learning for life!! And in the name the MUNOL Association, I may express my gratitude to the headmaster of this school, Mr. Flittiger and those teachers, especially Harry Denckmann and Winni Hartz, who support our efforts in this regard!

A second major point of criticism in political science comes from one of my own professors whose yet unpublished paper treats the global spread of Model UNs as the dangerous project of Liberal Internationalism, which could also be termed: the West. He conceives of mock debates and the partial representation of the United Nations as part of the formation of a group of believers that see the UN as something decidedly good – although it is not. His claim is that our simulations, in Lübeck as well as in New York City or elsewhere, occult and disguise the problematic political character of the UN by multiplying the picture of a diplomatic forum with equal negotiating partners all engaged in finding peaceful solutions to international problems. Yet this does hardly correspond to reality. Indeed, what we fail to realistically simulate and teach is how serious decisions concerning life and death are subject to unequal bargains, political and economic pressure, and even bribery. Also, what remains beyond the horizon of our conferences, is a thorough evaluation of those agreed upon UN policies, which, we have to admit, are more often than not far from doing what they pretend to do.

Although I strongly oppose the vision of Model UNs building a conspiracy to uphold the myth of a positively working international organization, I would still like to emphasize that the United Nations is not a heavenly kindergarten. This lesson is especially for you delegates: Our task is accomplished if you have taken a serious interest in international politics in the framework of the United Nations. But this interest should not turn into blind passion for the doings of an organization which is inherently good. Because it is not. At MUNOL you have experienced the basic principles of multilateral diplomacy. This should be your primer in international relations – now it's up to you to reflect on international developments and build your own, critical opinion on the performance of international institutions.

Besides all that: isn't it interesting that political scientists write about and discuss the effects of role-playing simulations and Model United Nations? To me, this is proof enough that our project is indeed significant. The world did not change during the past week in that global problems would have been sustainably solved, but it did change in that it changed you, delegates. And you is who shape the world of tomorrow.

As we will probably hear next, a whole lot of individuals have cooperated in a highly sophisticated manner to make this conference possible. Yet, only few individuals had overall responsibility for this year's session. I am of course talking about Nils Gravenhorst and Caro Lehmann as Conference Managers, Franzi Weis and Shervin Jafari as Secretaries-General as well as Katha Kemp as Financial Manager. Let the following warmest round of applause, standing ovations, and screams of delight be tribute to your tremendous work and acknowledgment of your great and by far not trivial efforts! Thank you so much!

Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I yield the floor back to the President.

Opening Speech 2010

by Axel Benrath, Deputy Chairman of the MUNOL Association

Madam President of the General Assembly, Secretaries-General, Mr. Flittiger, Distinguished Guests and, again this year, a most warm welcome to you, delegates.
(That’s the only part I copied from last year’s speech, from now on: something new)

It’s about to begin. The thirteenth annual session of the Model United Nations of Lübeck. You will be part of it. Good for you. Why? Listen up.

Almost like last year, ten pages and five points:

As the most beautiful madam President already told you about the MUNOL Association, I will skip that part.

But beforehand, those of you who know me know of my love for audience participation. Thus, I would like for the right side of the audience to get up, and turn 90 degrees towards the wall. Now look up at the ceiling and be quiet. Now the central column, get up and check out what is up there.

As we agree on equal rights to every individual human being, the whole left column: please get up and turn 90 degrees towards the wall. Now observe the nothingness above you and keep quiet.

Thank you, please sit down again.

MUNOL Association

I speak to you on behalf of the MUNOL association. We are former MUNOL Officials who think that what MUNOL is and what it let’s you experience is something of great value. Together with the Thomas-Mann-School, our Sponsors and the Organization Team we are the backbone of each conference.

Now to more central points....

Beauty

By the end of the week you will have seen that there is beauty in words. There is beauty in speaking. There is beauty in speeches. Why? Because you will have discussed loads of topics, you will have formulated seemingly elegant solutions to never-ending conflicts of the real world. (We have solved the Middle East conflict about 8 times in the last five sessions at MUNOL...). But you will not see yourself in the responsibility to carry out your decisions. You won’t be somewhere in Africa, in Jerusalem, in Afghanistan or in New Orleans. You won’t be in Haiti, rebuilding a country. You’ll be on your way home from Lübeck. It will have been easy for you to create sub-committees that solve the problem some time in the future. It will have been easy for me to mention as many problematic regions of the world in only one sentence without even having been there once. That is the beauty of language. But you will still be in the real world.

Knowing what is right

So was it wrong to come to Lübeck? Was it worth the preparation? Was it worth the trip? Can we do anything? Yes, we can. Would be an easy answer to that last question, and an easy way out, but, as we have seen, "Yes, we can" also falls under the category of beauty of speech....

But, it was worth it. Because by joining this conference, you have shown that you know, in a way, what is right. And that’s not a truth that just hangs out in the street and you by chance walk by and say: "Hey, check this out, that is what’s right." Too many individuals in the course of history have claimed to know what is right. Jesus Christ in a way, the Queen sort of, a whole bunch of different presidents, Madonna.....this list is not complete, as you know.

The bottom line is, whenever someone wants to tell you what is right, be suspicious. Don’t believe what you are told without questioning the matter. But then again, make an exception right now. As I tell you something.

We have grounded a whole lot in our society on the belief of the masses. We call it democracy. If there are enough individuals who support an idea, then that idea counts as accepted. We have done some very good things and also some very bad things with that concept. Keep that in mind when you have to face other points of view. From the bad things, we tried to learn something, and at some point after years and decades of misunderstandings and wars some unusually intelligent persons thought how great it would be for a change if instead of killing each other, the whole world came together at one single table and talked out their problems. That, you will have guessed, counts as another beauty of speech. They did that and what came into being was the United Nations Organization.
Sounds pretty simple, but that is, for what I think, the central story.
The similarity, the synthesis of the arguments before is: you came together here. You didn’t try to kill each other. That is what for you is right, and that is what you chose to do.

I will not stand before you telling what is right. We are obliged to face different opinions all the time and we in this room share a pretty Eurocentric point of view. But when Tsunamis crush villages, earthquakes eliminate hundreds of thousands of people, when two groups fight over a territory in the Middle East other nations get involved. They try to help. Humans want to help fellow humans. That let’s me think that a lot of times there is something humane in the answer to the question: What is right?

Ignorance

Remember your little participation earlier? That is how it does not work. What did you do? You turned away from everyone else. You ignored each other. In this case you can believe me: It does not help, and on the long run, it hurts.

In that respect, I turn to my last point,

Utopia

Would it be great, if there were a UN that was a world government? I don’t know. If there was agreement on the topics of nuclear weapons, the Israel-Palestinian conflict, child labor and Human Rights? It would be, but there is not. The UN is, will be and always have been a place where groups of every religion, a variety of political concepts, with numerous ideas of how to interpret International Laws have come together. Only to talk....
That cannot work, critics argue.
That does not lead to practical solutions, they say.
That the institution is not powerful enough to actually carry out what has been discussed in the forums.
They say the UN is a utopia.

We, who support the core concept of what the UN is, understand that we are some meters short of scoring our most important goal:

AD ORBEM TERRARUM CONSOCIANDUM – to unite the world

That is the MUNOL logo and motto.

You will have to overcome many obstacles until you agree that this is a valid aim. It is a rough task to organize all the different ethnicities, statesmen/women in a forum. That is why there exist as many regulating factors to the process as there are. Dress code, no dialogues on the floor, motions and points, rules of procedure, tiring debates.....live through it and believe, truly and willingly believe that you can change the world by arguing, disagreeing, debating, dissolving.

Because you can.

And if you understand the beauty of words ignorance can be overcome and you can conclude what is right and prove that we do not work toward a utopian goal. We virtually work towards a better future. We have to shape it according to what we believe is right. It doesn’t shape itself. "Always in motion the future is". Master Yoda, the great Jedi, said that. And he is right.

In that spirit: You may not take everything you can home what there is about the UN or MUN’s. That is not a criticism in advance. That is a report based on experience. But take something for yourself home with you. What that will be is open. And "Remember: Your focus determines your reality." That was Qui-Gon Jinn, another Jedi-Knight.

Give your focus room; give it space to explore what is new, what is different.

The organization team has done a tremendous job this year. Let them know personally if you liked it here. What you liked. They deserve it. The Stage is set. Use it. Play. Play hard. And play fair. Don’t ignore. Be open. And rock your week.

Thank you.

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