The Empire Within: Postcolonial Thought and Political Activism in Sixties Montreal (Sean Mills)

I love to read political histories of the 1960s. Unfortunately, Canadian based books on this subject are not plentiful. At least not as plentiful as those on, say, the United States or France. What caught my attention about this book was not only the time period, but also the reference to post-colonialism in the sub heading. I consider myself to have a  very basic working knowledge of Quebecois history, but I had never before viewed that history through a colonial context. 

What the author, Sean Mills, does in The Empire Within, is highlight the social and nationalist movements of Montreal as part of  the larger, postcolonial and revolutionary environment of the period. 1960s Montreal was not a closed subsystem, but rather an open one, taking in and adapting the ideas and language that came out of the Black Power Movement in the United States, the revolution and rise of Communism in Cuba, the student and labour movements in France and the post-colonial uprisings in Latin American and Africa. 

Of course, Mills does acknowledge how skewed the vision of many activists in Montreal were during this time period. Many people chose to view French-Canada as a colonized and oppressed group (a very valid and true argument) but those same people did not consider the role they themselves had played in the colonization of the indigenous peoples of Canada.  It wasn't until the late 60's and early 70's, that Quebecois activists began to take note of the oppression of women, indigenous peoples and other ethnic minorities. 

I can't describe how much I enjoyed this book. I have a feeling similar to the one I got when I read Betty Freidan's The Feminine Mystique for the first time. My perception of events has once again been altered by what I have read. I will be thinking about what I have read here for a long time afterwards.