Mondragon is a political bookstore and vegan restaurant located in Winnipeg's historic exchange district. The word Mondragon comes from the Euskadi (Basque) town of the same name meaning "Dragon Mountain" in English. Located in Northern Spain, Mondragon – or Arrasate in the Basque language – is known for its extensive network of workers' cooperatives, and has been the subject of numerous books and articles.
Likewise, our bookstore is aimed at providing
information on the above issues and more. And, Mondragon itself is a cooperative,
collectively owned and operated by its workers along principles of
participatory economics. Our goal, through food, books, events and our
very existence is to further the possibility of a just, humane world,
starting with our own community and workplace.
Food Politics is a central component of Mondragon's principles.
There are a variety of reasons we choose to offer vegan fare, including
issues of health, ecology, animal liberation, and global justice. But
veganism is not our only criterion for selecting menu items and
suppliers. Environmental considerations, human rights, labour
conditions, the relative power that workers exercise over their
workplace, commitment to community economic development, and of course
nutritional quality are factors informing our choices and thus our
offerings to you.
Inspired by this and many other examples of alternative economics and workplace democracy, our bookstore and coffeehouse is organized as a workers collective. We have no manager, and all worker members, regardless of starting skill or seniority, earn the same rate of pay. We call ours a "participatory" workplace – after the participatory economic model developed by co-authors Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert – and we feel that this structure is consistent with libertarian socialist principles.
