Australian Institute of Polish Affairs would like to invite you to a lecture “Is Polish Democracy under Threat” by the writer and diplomat Jerzy Surdykowski.

This is the first Inaugural Andrzej Ehrenkreutz lecture established in honour of AIPA founder, Professor Andrew Ehrenkreutz.

Since the end of the 1960’s he has worked as a journalist, publishing in leading magazines including ‘Perspektywy’, ‘Zycie Gospodarcze’ and ‘Zycie Literackie’. In August 1980 he took part in the Gdansk shipyard strike, publishing in the strikers’ bulletin. In 1980 he also became vice-president of the Association of Polish Journalists and continued to hold this position after the Association was outlawed during the period of martial law. In 1982, after being forbidden from publishing in the open he worked for the underground press. In 1989 he became editor-in-chief of ‘Glos Wyborczy Solidarnosci’ (The Election Voice of Solidarnosc) and subsequently was on the editorial committee of ‘Tygodnik Solidarnosc’ and ‘Rzeczpospolita’.

From 1990 Jerzy Surdykowski has worked in the Polish Diplomatic Service. He was Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York (1990-1996) and later Ambassador to Thailand, Burma/Myanmar and the Phillipines (1993-2003). He is a member of the Association of Polish Writers and PEN Club.