Winston Churchill once said, “Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.” The art of negotiation between nations is a long and storied one, and perhaps Mr Churchill was being overly bitter when he described it. Diplomacy is above all the ability to compromise, while maybe trying to take something for yourself every once in a while.

From March 25 to 29, several of Graded’s very own MUN delegates travelled to Praia do Forte, Bahia, to display their diplomatic prowess at the 13th annual BRAMUN conference. The BRAMUN conference is unique in that it gathers hundreds of students from schools all over Brazil to debate modern world issues in eight different councils and committees; the art of diplomacy is never as truly alive as when it is practiced with argor by passionate youths.

Junior Daniel Felberg, who was among Graded’s five award-winning delegations this year, commented, “Personally, I really enjoyed BRAMUN because it allowed me to debate topics from a certain point of view that I don’t necessarily agree with. And that’s one of the cool things about diplomacy really: you need to learn to give up your personal interests for your country’s interests, and from there, compromise with other countries to pass a successful resolution.”