GEORGIA KELLY - The Mondragon Cooperatives, People Before Profit

Event Date: October 2, 2025
Time: 12:00 pm

Georgia Kelly, the Director of Praxis Peace Institute and leader of 13 trips to Mondragon, Spain for week-long seminar/tours at the Mondragon Cooperatives, will speak about the extraordinary achievement of the largest complex of worker-owned businesses in the world. With nearly 80,000 worker-owners and 100 cooperatives making everything from industrial appliances, automotive parts, bicycles, medical supplies, to machine tools, construction materials, and more, they are living proof that another economic model is possible. The Mondragon Cooperatives have their own banking system, university complex, the Basque Culinary Center, a supermarket chain, and the largest research and development complex in Europe. A remarkable feat considering that the Basque region of Spain was the poorest area of the country in the 1950s. Today, it is the wealthiest area, not because there are mansions in the hills or gated communities by the sea, but because they have eliminated poverty. The concept of “Enough” is alive and well in this region. Georgia’s presentation will explore some of the inspiring facets of the cooperatives as well as the culture and political atmosphere that supports this thriving community.

This presentation is sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Sonoma County and will take place at the Santa Rosa Country Club, 333 Country Club Drive, Santa Rosa.
Presentation and Lunch: Tickets: https://wacsc.org/event-6315748

---