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 area, combined with Hakim Bey's notion of a "Temporary Autonomous Zone" (or TAZ). The Winnipeg A-Zone occupies a three-story building, originally built in 1899 and known as the "Imperial Dry Goods Building." Like many buildings in the area, it is classified as a heritage building by the City of Winnipeg. Since 1995, the building has been known locally as both the A-Zone, and sometimes the Emma Goldman Building.

The original aims of the A-Zone were to:

The A-Zone supports worker-owned businesses, whether worker co-ops or sole proprietorships, as well as grassroots activist groups and collectives, and in turn been supported by them, since starting in 1995. Current member organizations include:

Past members include groups such as Food Not Bombs, Arbeiter Ring Publishing, Urban Shaman (Artist Run Aboriginal Art Gallery), Manitoba Action Committee on the Status of Women, Amnesty International (Winnipeg), Okijida Warriors' Society, Manitoba Women in Trades and Technology (MBWITT), Dada World Data (DWD), Mondragon Bookstore & Coffee House, and others [1].

In 2007, the Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre (r2c2) was founded on the third floor of the building, and according to the r2c2 website, functions as a "gallery and multi-purpose venue for social, political, and cultural events of interest to the anarchist, activist, and wider Winnipeg community."

On February 1, 2012 it was announced the Tenant-owned Co-operative consisting of Mondragon, Winnipeg Copwatch, Boreal Forest Network, ParIT, Natural Cycle Courier and Rudolph Rocker Cultural Center had purchased the building.

The A-Zone's core principles include a commitment to Participatory Economics (or Parecon), autonomy and solidarity, anti-colonialism "at home" and abroad, fair and equitable work, non-hierarchical decision-making, community economic development, and revolution [2].

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