NO MORE Events
CLOSED
Interested in the Mondragon as a venue? We love to host your next event, be it a poetry slam, book launch, musical event, or other performance. Please check out our Use of Space Guidelines below and then send over an email to mondragon@mondragon.ca or call us at 204-946-5241. Keep in mind Mondragon advocates absolute freedom of expression, especially for views that we oppose. We do not support efforts by organizations or the State to prohibit speech or censor ideas, including the most vile racist or sexist drivel. This does not prevent us from speaking out against, challenging, or debating such ideas, nor does it compel us to allow Mondragon or the A-Zone to be used as a forum for hate groups.
We want art, performances and speeches at Mondragon (and elsewhere in fact) to be challenging. But we want them to be respectful at the same time. We feel that behaving in a racist, sexist, ableist, classist, homophobic, or fat phobic manner, to name a few forms of oppression, is not challenging. Heck, in this culture we grew up living and breathing this stuff. It is lazy at best, and at worst it is simply oppressive. So instead we hope for truly liberating forms of expression. Let’s just make it real, make it radical, and make it together.
Read Mondragon's Use of Space Guidlines
While Mondragon functions on the surface as a bookstore and coffeehouse, we also commit ourselves as a collective to political and social activism. We do this especially by providing a forum for progressive speakers, performers and artists. We are always attempting to widen the space for activism, dissent, and art in Winnipeg (and beyond). Indeed, we want Mondragon to be a true community space. In our view, a community space should promote a politics of anti-oppression that seeks to end racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of discrimination. It should be a space that promotes discussion, learning, and organizing, around issues of radical politics, antioppression, and alternatives to capitalist culture.
With this in mind, we ask that all our speakers, performers, and artists have read and are in basic agreement of our principles of anti-oppression. There are many other venues in the city that do not require such a commitment from their performers and if anyone were to have a problem with these principles we respect that. We do not believe anyone should sacrifice their art and message to comply with anyone else’s. We are not into censorship. That, of course, does not mean we will provide a venue for it though. So check out the following principles and let us know if they jive with you:
- We are committed to building a workplace and society free from domination.
- We must be clearly committed to anti-oppression practice; unless we are, all forms of oppression will continue to divide our movements and weaken our power.
- Oppression is identified by its effects on people and on dynamics, not by the intention of the perpetrators. Having meant no harm does not undo oppression.
- Oppression often shows up in hierarchical dualisms, such as men over women and people over animals. It can also be less visible: aggressive people over noncompetitive, outgoing over quiet, etc. We are opposed to, and work to dismantle, all types of oppression.
- Power and privilege can play out in our group dynamics in destructive ways, silencing and dividing. Power differences always exist in groups, but are least harmful when we are aware of them. Privilege, like power can be used for positive purposes but must be used with awareness and sensitivity.
- We can only identify the workings of power and privilege when we are conscious and committed to understanding how white supremacy, patriarchy, classism, heterosexism and all other systems of oppression affect each one of us. Each person, no matter how radical or revolutionary, who enjoys privileges granted by systems of prejudicial power must recognize the benefits and costs of their privileges.