Poland 1980s: the Revolution That Change the World

On Tuesday 26th March at 6PM in the Uí Chadhain Theatre, a guest lecture will be given to Trinity students by Mr. Alistair Harrison, foreign policy advisor to King Charles III and Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps on the Polish transition from communism in the 1980s. Alistair was a first-hand witness to the immense political and social change which took place in Poland throughout the 1980s in his capacity as a British diplomat. There, he observed the early days of a political revolution which would play an outsized role in the decline of European communism and the end of the Cold War. He will be speaking to Trinity students and staff about the on-the-ground condition at the time, and offer personal insights into the experience of a Western diplomat working behind the Iron Curtain during an important moment in history. The guest lecture will be followed by an interactive Q&A, where audience members will have a chance to ask questions to one of the most experienced diplomats in Britain and a senior member of the Royal Household. The event will be attended by HE Arkady Rzegocki, Polish Ambassador to Ireland, and other members of the diplomatic community About the speaker: Alistair Harrison has been a UK diplomat for over 45 years. He is currently Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps in Buckingham Palace. He began his career in Poland from 1979 to 1982 and saw at first hand the events he will describe in his lecture – the revolution spearheaded by Solidarity and the declaration of Martial Law in December 1981. After several jobs in London and a five-year spell at the United Nations in New York Alistair returned to Poland in 1995 as Deputy Head of Mission. Poland and the region had changed dramatically and were still changing. He experienced a calmer but no less important revolution as Poland was invited to become a member of both NATO and the European Union.  He later returned to New York where he saw the effect on the international community as Poland and nine other nations joined the EU. In his later career he became Head of Mission in Zambia in Southern Africa and Anguilla in the Caribbean, but never lost his interest in Poland and the Central European region.