CMO organised a succesfull EPA public debate on April 23rd night in Nijmegen. The place was 'sold out' (if you can say that with free tickets) with 75 seats. The evening was in English.
There were interviews with two African famers (one from Ghana and one from Uganda). They explained how free trade affected their farming. There was an interview with Burghard Ilge that explained briefly what EPAs are, accompanied by a movie of Lokaal Mondiaal (in English with Dutch subtitles) of a African farmer in Brussels explaining why EPAs in his view were wrong. We had a succesfull theater play GreK and Grip save the Galaxy (that will be gilmed next month and put on the internet - You Tube and out PfC website). After the break there was a panel discussion and with the audience about EPAs: a curse or a blessing? In the panel: an African NGO representative from Ghana, a Dutch dairy farmer and member of a critical Farmers Association (against EPAs) and a representative of the biggest Dutch Farmers Association (pro EPAs). The audience was very critical on EPAs and it was a mixed audience: students from univerisity, some farmers, NGOs and people interested in development issues. We ended with the conclusion: what to do with the EPAs?
All in all it was quite a success.
On Saturday the same discussion will be held (1 hour time slot) on the Africa Day in The Hague in a room with 100 seats (sold out already). This day will be visited by 2500 people.