Mondragon Bookstore
Encyclopedia
The Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse is a political bookstore and vegan cafe located in The Old Market Autonomous Zone
at 91 Albert Street in Winnipeg
, Manitoba
, Canada
. The name comes from the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation
and other organisations in the Basque
town of Mondragón
Spain that is known for its extensive network of worker's cooperatives
.
Mondragon is organized as a workers' collective
: there is no hierarchy
and all workers receive the same wage
rate. This is based on the economic structure, Parecon developed by Robin Hahnel
and Michael Albert
.
, ecology
, indigenous
issues and resistance, Marxism
, feminism
, human and animal liberation
, queer
issues, sexuality
, health
, vegetarianism
, economics
, labour
, media
, activism
and social change
. Mondragon also carries zines, alternative
children's books, political posters and t-shirts.
, 2008) under the title "Parecon and Workers' Self-Management: Reflections on Winnipeg's Mondragon Bookstore & Coffee House Collective.". Some commentators have also noted that regardless of the egalitarian workplace structure, in the final analysis, retail work is still largely menial, and turn-over rates are comparable to more corporate counterparts.
The Old Market Autonomous Zone
The Old Market Autonomous Zone, or A-Zone, was founded in 1995, in Winnipeg, Canada by local activists Paul Burrows and Sandra Drosdowech, who also co-founded Winnipeg's Mondragon Bookstore. Its name is derived from "Old Market Square," the historic Exchange District in Winnipeg's downtown core...
at 91 Albert Street in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The name comes from the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation
Mondragón Cooperative Corporation
The MONDRAGON Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain. Founded in the town of Mondragón in 1956, its origin is linked to the activity of a modest technical college and a small workshop producing paraffin heaters...
and other organisations in the Basque
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
town of Mondragón
Mondragón
Arrasate or Mondragón - is a town and municipality in Gipuzkoa province, Basque Country, Spain...
Spain that is known for its extensive network of worker's cooperatives
Worker cooperative
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which...
.
Mondragon is organized as a workers' collective
Workers' council
A workers' council, or revolutionary councils, is the phenomenon where a single place of work or enterprise, such as a factory, school, or farm, is controlled collectively by the workers of that workplace, through the core principle of temporary and instantly revocable delegates.In a system with...
: there is no hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
and all workers receive the same wage
Wage
A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by workers in exchange for their labor.Compensation in terms of wages is given to workers and compensation in terms of salary is given to employees...
rate. This is based on the economic structure, Parecon developed by Robin Hahnel
Robin Hahnel
Robin Hahnel is a Professor of Economics at Portland State University. He is best known for his work on participatory economics with Z Magazine editor Michael Albert. He is currently a visiting professor at Lewis & Clark College....
and Michael Albert
Michael Albert
Michael Albert is an American activist, economist, speaker, and writer. He is co-editor of ZNet, and co-editor and co-founder of Z Magazine. He also co-founded South End Press and has written numerous books and articles...
.
Mondragon Bookstore
Mondragon Bookstore carries books related to anarchismAnarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
issues and resistance, Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, human and animal liberation
Animal liberation movement
The animal-liberation movement, sometimes called the animal-rights movement, animal personhood, or animal-advocacy movement, is a social movement which seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, an end to the status of animals as property, and...
, queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
issues, sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
, vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, labour
Labour movement
The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
, media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
and social change
Social change
Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...
. Mondragon also carries zines, alternative
Alternative education
Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, includes a number of approaches to teaching and learning other than mainstream or traditional education. Educational alternatives are often rooted in various philosophies that are fundamentally different...
children's books, political posters and t-shirts.
Vegan Grocery
Mondragon also operates a full vegan grocery store entitled Sacco & Vanzetti's, after the two notable anarchists of the 1920s. It specializes in local and organic fare.Non-Hierarchical Worker-Run Collective
Mondragon's internal structure, inspired by the participatory economic model, is part of a long tradition of workers' collectives. It aspires to complete non-hierarchy: there are no owners or managers other than the workers themselves. One of the co-founders of the workplace presented a paper at the World Social Forum in Brazil on the practical difficulties of applying parecon principles to a workplace in the midst of capitalism. This paper was later published in the anthology Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century (AK PressAK Press
AK Press is a worker-managed independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.-History:...
, 2008) under the title "Parecon and Workers' Self-Management: Reflections on Winnipeg's Mondragon Bookstore & Coffee House Collective.". Some commentators have also noted that regardless of the egalitarian workplace structure, in the final analysis, retail work is still largely menial, and turn-over rates are comparable to more corporate counterparts.
Political events
Mondragon has also been a venue for social and political events since opening its doors in 1996. A partial list of activists and speakers who have given talks or participated on panels at Mondragon over the years includes:Anarchists
- Randall AmsterRandall AmsterRandall Amster is an author, activist, and educator in areas including peace, ecology, homelessness, and anarchism. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1966, Amster has worked as an attorney, judicial clerk, professor, and academic administrator during his professional career...
- L. Susan BrownL. Susan BrownL. Susan Brown is a Canadian anarcho-communist writer and theoretician.Brown is best-known for her germinal text The Politics of Individualism , in which she makes a distinction between "existential individualism" and "instrumental individualism" and examines how these forms are utilized in...
- Brian Dominick of The NewStandardThe NewStandardThe NewStandard was an independent, nonprofit, ad-free news service. After nearly 3.5 years on line, The NewStandard discontinued publication on April 27, 2007...
- Lorenzo Kom'boa ErvinLorenzo Kom'boa ErvinLorenzo Kom'boa Ervin is an American writer, activist, and Black anarchist. He is a former member of the Black Panther Party. He has lived in Memphis, Tennessee since 2010.- Youth and early activism :...
- Chris Hannah of PropagandhiPropagandhiPropagandhi is a Canadian punk band formed in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1986 by Chris Hannah and Jord Samolesky. The band is currently located in Winnipeg, Manitoba....
- Ann HansenAnn HansenAnn Hansen is a Canadian anarchist and former member of Direct Action, a guerrilla organization famous for the 1982 bombing of a Litton Industries plant, which made components for American cruise missiles. She was sentenced to life in prison, but was released after eight years. Hansen wrote of her...
- Norman NawrockiNorman NawrockiNorman Nawrocki , is a Montreal-based comedian, sex educator, cabaret artist, musician, author, actor, producer and composer. Nawrocki together with Sylvain Côté were the founding members of "rock 'n roll cabaret" band Rhythm Activism...
of Rhythm ActivismRhythm ActivismRhythm Activism was a Canadian musical collective, revolving around the core duo of Sylvain Côté and Norman Nawrocki. The group, based in Montreal, performed a politically radical brand of "rock 'n roll cabaret"....
. - Jaggi SinghJaggi SinghJaggi Singh is one of Canada's most high-profile anti-globalization and social justice activists. He is an anarchist. Singh lives in Montreal where he works with groups such as Solidarity Across Borders and the No One Is Illegal collective, among others. Singh graduated from St...
Others
- Michael AlbertMichael AlbertMichael Albert is an American activist, economist, speaker, and writer. He is co-editor of ZNet, and co-editor and co-founder of Z Magazine. He also co-founded South End Press and has written numerous books and articles...
- Naomi KleinNaomi KleinNaomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
- Ward ChurchillWard ChurchillWard LeRoy Churchill is an author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government...
- Dacajewah "Splitting the Sky" Hill
- various members of the Industrial Workers of the WorldIndustrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
- Native Youth Movement activists
- members of the Brazilian Landless Workers' MovementLandless Workers' MovementLandless Workers' Movement is a social movement in Brazil; it is the second largest social movement in Latin America with an estimated 1.5 million landless members in 23 out of Brazil's 26 states. The MST states it carries out land reform in a country it sees as mired by unjust land distribution...
- No One is Illegal
- Zapatista Army of National LiberationZapatista Army of National LiberationThe Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
and PalestinianPalestinian nationalismPalestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people. It has roots in Pan-Arabism and other movements rejecting colonialism and calling for national independence. More recently, Palestinian Nationalism is expressed through the Israeli–Palestinian conflict...
solidarity activists - members of OCAPOntario Coalition Against PovertyThe Ontario Coalition Against Poverty is an anti-poverty group in Ontario, Canada, who promote the interests of the poor and homeless...
- prison abolitionist Ruth Morris
- Christian ParentiChristian ParentiChristian Parenti is an American investigative journalist and author. His books include: Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis , a survey of the rise of the prison industrial complex from the Nixon through Reagan Eras and into the present; The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America...
- Alexander CockburnAlexander CockburnAlexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
History
- Mondragon was co-founded by Winnipeg activists Paul Burrows and Sandra Drosdowech, and opened its doors on July 15, 1996 with an initial collective of ten members.
- Many of Mondragon's past collective members have gone on to help start other activist projects, or join existing ones, such as Winnipeg-based groups like Natural Cycle, G7 Welcoming Committee RecordsG7 Welcoming Committee RecordsG7 Welcoming Committee Records is a Canadian independent record label started by Chris Hannah and Jord Samolesky of punk band Propagandhi, and their friend Regal in 1997...
, Arbeiter Ring PublishingArbeiter Ring PublishingArbeiter Ring Publishing is a worker-owned and operated independent book publisher and distributor that specializes in progressive, radical and anarchist literature . Founded by Todd Scarth and John K...
, Organic Planet Worker Co-op, Dada World Data (DWD), as well as AK Press and Seven Stories Press http://a-zone.org/history.
External links
- Mondragon Bookstore and Coffeehouse
- ParEcon in Theory and Practice “Work After Capitalism” Panel Discussion - Paul Burrows outlining how ParEcon was implemented at the Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse