The first thing I will say would be that in certain respects, reporting for newsroom was both harder and easier than being part of the International Press for MUN. I could see the journalists running around like crazy, to and from their own committee and the IP room to write their articles down. With time limits on writing and sending articles, to having specific topics for each, I was exhausted just looking at them. The caricaturists were busy thinking up ideas while the sessions were going on, their minds buzzing with energy, and their hands furiously illustrating and writing away. The photograp taking in every scene, trying to make their pictures come alive with the energy and enthusiasm of all the delegates which definitely got us all through the day. Never forget the logistics members, that’s for sure. Their determination to keep the whole place functioning smoothly, passing chit after chit, knowing exactly what to do when, really set them apart as well.
Unfortunately though, running between six committees is no easy feat, for with the job of reporting the event as a whole, I had to know when to get out of one committee and go into the next, spend equal amounts of time in pretty much each. But most of all, catching up on where the committee was currently at, after having missed probably 30 minutes of their session that I had spent reporting elsewhere, can be an ordeal. But MUN truly was a beautiful experience, even as an onlooker.
At close to 11:35, I stepped into the crisis committee for probably the first time, and it was indeed a most opportune time to do so. As a crisis committee, it is full of surprises, and there was one waiting for me. The crisis committee was discussing Hong Kong and suddenly, they had produced a citizen. Yun Ch’ing, from a town in Hong Kong who was trying to stage a rebellion with the rest of his village against the mysterious gas that plagued their home. His face covered, his inability to be coherent enough throughout was amusing, but he imparted very crucial information for the committee to proceed with. CHRF in general seemed to be discussing something in little groups every time I went in; they were in an unmoderated caucus quite a lot (9 full times in fact), and that made the discussions that followed that much richer. There were various angles brought forth for the very same problem, like definitely producing masks and offering refuge for the town members, but to also shut down or pacify extremist rebels (like Yun Ch’ing) so as to prevent anarchy from spreading.
Well, that doesn’t mean that that was the only one with the immense excitement and amusement mingled with intelligent discussion and heated debating. UNCSW, the committee that discussed women in leadership, brought forth a very interesting scenario of Malala Yousafzai being kidnapped from a hotel with heavy security in Iraq. The ransom was 10 million US dollars and her whereabouts were unknown. Upon tracking the video (which was sent by ISIS), they found it came from Norway but stumbled upon a dead end there. The following debate was on what to do about the same. The ideas of heightened security at the airport, navy scanning the seas were accompanied by lots and lots of points of information raised against Iraq. Not to mention the accusation that UK hurled at Iraq, regarding the possibility of its participation Malala’s kidnapping, considering the high security that there was. And it seems a little weird that after so many suggestions had been made on how to find her, she was found unconscious in the bathroom of the room next to hers. The pseudo-kidnapping was just a diversion for a bombing in Boko Haram (an organization in Africa whose headquarters are in Zimbabwe) to take place.
Then we come to ASEAN, a committee dedicated to discussing the South China Sea dispute. More often than not, USA and China were engaged in a one to one battle, with the US apparently in rightful control over an area that China somehow seemed to claim. Then we had the Commander of Malaysia, citing the rules and saying that the South China Sea should indeed be divided equally amongst all the Asian countries. Then quite suddenly, the President of Laos (originally a member of the Executive Board) stepped in by calling the entire committee hypocritical. We had points of order being raised against factual inaccuracies while the points themselves turned out to be wrong. There were a lot of first timers, a few shy little seventh graders struggling, yet trying their hardest at their first attempt. The Executive Board was fully supportive throughout, pushing them gently in the right direction, every step of the way, from correcting their choice of words to calmly listening and sometimes even prompting when delegates got stuck.
“The ayes have it, the ayes have, the ayes have it. The motion stays.” OR “The nays have it, the nays have it, the nays have it. The motion fails.” As the entire room rang with either an aye or a nay, followed by the declaration of whether the motion stayed or failed, there was a sort of light hearted yet official feel to AIPPM, or the All India Political Parties’ Meet, which performed an in depth analysis of the economic policy of the NDA, or the National Democratic Alliance. From the very beginning, the EB instructed the delegates on the fact that they were allowed a point to reply, since they expected a lot of heated debating. Which definitely did happen, because we had Nirmala Sitaraman, Smriti Irmani, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamta Banerjee, Omar Abdullah, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, all talking about black money, demonetization, GDP, GST, merged banks, FDI. One disagreeing with another and siding with somebody else, all the while adding to a discussion that was filled with sarcasm, satire. And it seemed very real with a touch of Hindi.
It is worth mentioning at this point that the members of the Grub Club too worked really hard to bring us refreshments and that is something that I am sure we were all extremely grateful for. Those breaks too were much needed, for everyone had worked so hard that in two hours itself, we were all pretty drained (at least I was).
Next comes ECOSOC, a committee dedicated to discussing the program of action for the least developed countries. The debate was ranging from high or low inflation rates, to admitting to the pathetic economic state of their own country, to pointedly being against providing excessive help or aid to other countries, yet very openly also taking help (That also ended in a squabble of sorts that was soon put to a stop by the EB). Most of all though, the sessions dedicated to finding solutions to the problem that the least developed countries are stuck in were most enriching. They analyzed the causes, dissected the problem and arrived at proper, well researched answers. They explored the desperate need for proper education and healthcare in the LDCs as the first step to combatting the problem, also explaining the trend of unending corruption and dependency on mainly agriculture in these regions. Some also brought out the point about gender inequality and a need to work together to tide over this problem, for it was agreed it couldn’t be done alone.
The last of the six committees was UNSC, or the United Nations Security Council, which had on its agenda the armed conflict in Africa, specifically focusing on the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was indeed a pleasure to be in a place so bustling with energy, excited voices keen on getting their points across, yet every head turned to listen patiently and attentively to the one speaking. The delegates spoke of the justice system in DRC, a dire need to improve it, the appalling rates of gender based violence, and connected that to an increase in the number of HIV victims. Then they pondered about the importance of peace talks and lending financial aid to Congo, making a separate organization that aims to put a stop to all crimes against humanity. Some wished for psychological help to be provided, while some wished for society and state to come to a mutual understanding.
Every single committee had its own quirks, filled with absolutely stunning individuals with something to say. Everybody was well informed, well prepared, and a little nervous but determined nonetheless to leave a mark. And at the end of the day, each and every delegate and IP member went home feeling proud, whether they were awarded best delegate/ journalist/ caricaturist/ photographer or not.
It is indeed a very proud moment for Newsroom because our club leader, Uday, won high commendation as a journalist! So hurray too, for all those who won awards, the Heritage Community is proud.
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