Belfast City Hall illuminates in the Polish national colours, red and white, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Polish Solidarity movement.
Belfast City Hall and the MAC (Metropolitan Art Centre) have marked the 40th anniversary of the Polish Solidarity movement by lighting up their buildings.
Proposed by Alliance Councillor Michael Long, Belfast City Hall was lit in the Polish national colours of red and white. The Solidarity logo was also beamed on to the MAC to commemorate the founding of the independent trade union in 1980.
Solidarity, Solidarność in Polish, made an important contribution to the dismantling of the authoritarian communist political regime in Poland and beyond.
Led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Lech Walesa, the trade union is renowned for its non-violent, practical diplomacy and created a precedent for peaceful transition into government.
The Polish community is the largest immigrant community in Northern Ireland and are the only European Union state with a consulate in Northern Ireland which opened in 2018. This is symbolic of the deep connection between the two countries and the important contribution, the approximately 30,000 Poles living in Northern Ireland make to society on a daily basis.
Councillor Michael Long said:
“The founding of the Solidarity independent trade union 40 years ago was a huge political event that reshaped much of Europe. The non-violent, anti-communist social movement contributed greatly to the collapse of the communist Soviet Union system, bringing both economic prosperity and social change to most of Eastern Europe.
“People across Northern Ireland will remember watching the ‘Polish August’ and the events in Gdansk in 1980 on TV screens, seeing how non-violence and social reform could change a country for the better and help progress livelihoods of all citizens. Solidarity still holds an inspirational quality that speaks to the restoration of key values that bring people together to create something new, with a focus on community. The passion of Solidarity, its leaders and people, inspired others, and its impact was truly transformational.
“The 40th anniversary will be of great significance to the Polish community in Belfast, and it is only right that Belfast City Hall marks the occasion. Moreover, the principles, ideals and emphasis on community that Solidarity embodied forty years ago are as important now as in the 1980s. In today’s current climate, Solidarity’s ethos of social change, human rights and actions to improve society should be at the forefront of how we all live and work in our communities.”
The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre) projects the Solidarity logo to mark the 40th anniversary of Solidarity.
Speaking in London, Marta de Zuniga, Director of the Polish Cultural Institute said:
“I am thrilled to see Belfast’s main civic and cultural buildings being used to mark and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the historic Solidarity movement in Poland. Solidarity helped overcome the artificial division of Europe into spheres of influence after the end of the Second World War, and it is especially fitting that Belfast joins in its message of people working together to remove barriers of understanding and culture, as well as trade and commerce.
“It was due to the Solidarity movement that Poland could become the first among Central and Eastern European countries to accomplish a peaceful transition from communism to democracy, where the civil society plays an influential and key role.
“Belfast is home to over 30,000 Polish people, who have created powerful and permanent links between our different ends of Europe. I am especially pleased to see the participation of Polish people in Northern Ireland’s civil society and cultural life.
“There are many lessons to be learnt from Solidarity and the ‘Polish August’ in Gdansk and it is only right that we honour those who had the vision and principles for modern day Poland and worked to shape it to the country we see today.”