Fundraising for the Old Market Autonomous Zone in Winnipeg

I just received this notice that the tenants of the A-Zone space in Winnipeg have an opportunity to purchase and then collectively own and manage the building in which they are housed. I've never been to the A-Zone -- I've only ever been in Winnipeg once -- but I know that it is a rare concentration of cool political projects and experiments and it would be great to support them as they expand to this new level:

Please distribute to your networks:

The Old Market Autonomous Zone, or the A-Zone, has provided affordable space to activist collectives, worker cooperatives, and small businesses since 1995. Beyond access to space, the A-Zone has brought together a diverse and complementary range of people and organizations with commitments to ethical, equitable, and sustainable business practices, the cooperative movement, radical organizing, anarchism, and grassroots cultural projects and events. The A-Zone has fostered values such as non-hierarchical organizing, anti-racism, workplace democracy, solidarity with Indigenous peoples, feminism, refugee support, anti-police brutality work, and prisoner solidarity, becoming known locally and internationally as a vital and inspiring site of leftist dissent, collective organizing, and resistance to all forms of oppression and exploitation.

In the autumn of 2009, the tenants of 91 Albert Street were presented with the opportunity to collectively own and manage the A-Zone. Natural Cycle Courier, Natural Cycle Cycleworks, Winnipeg Copwatch, Canadian Dimension Magazine, Anarchist Black Cross, Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse, the Rudolph Rocker Cultural Centre, and the Junto Local 91 radical library, among other tenants, have come together to form a non-profit, democratically-run tenant cooperative. We come together as a diverse set of organizations that, in different ways, provide energy and spirit to Winnipeg’s radical community. We aim to build a co-op that fosters self-sufficiency and mutual aid – not only for ourselves, but for a larger local and global commons. We hope to strengthen new and broaden existing social movements by continuing to make space available for public discussion, political organizing, and everyday mud-rucking.

Please help enable us to continue to provide this radical space for generations to come with your financial support.

We are embarking on a 4-month international fundraising campaign to raise funds toward the down-payment. Donations of any amount are welcome. Cheques can be made out to "Winnipeg Parecon Worker Council", and sent to the address and post box listed below. Please put our name ("A-Zone”) in the notes section of the cheque. We are also calling on groups to organize benefits and fundraisers as an act of solidarity with us.

Tune In on May Day to Support the A-Zone
We are holding a 24-Hour A-Zone International Fundraising Telethon, May 1 – 2, presented in conjunction with Winnipeg’s 2010 MayWorks Festival. The telethon will begin on the afternoon of the 1st and continue until the next day with non-stop live and virtual entertainment by local comedians, performance artists, musicians and poets at Mondragon on the A-Zone’s main floor. The event will conclude with a special Sunday brunch fundraiser on the 2nd. Tune in on the web at a-zone.org.


Contact us:
Email: azonefundcom@gmail.com
Address:
A-Zone Fundraising Cmte
2D-91 Albert St.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 1G5 Canada

For updates on our campaign, see our website at http://a-zone.org/