Just Watch Us

RCMP Surveillance of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Cold War Canada

Nonfiction, History, Canada
Cover of the book Just Watch Us by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt, MQUP
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt ISBN: 9780773553668
Publisher: MQUP Publication: March 21, 2018
Imprint: MQUP Language: English
Author: Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
ISBN: 9780773553668
Publisher: MQUP
Publication: March 21, 2018
Imprint: MQUP
Language: English

From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, in the midst of the Cold War and second-wave feminism, the RCMP security service – prompted by fears of left-wing and communist subversion – monitored and infiltrated the women’s liberation movement in Canada and Quebec. Just Watch Us investigates why and how this movement was targeted, weighing carefully the presumed threat its left-wing ties presented to the Canadian government against the defiant challenge its campaign for gender equality posed to Canadian society. Based on a close reading of thousands of pages of RCMP documents declassified under Canada’s Access to Information Act and the corresponding Privacy Act, Just Watch Us demonstrates that the security service’s longstanding anti-Communist focus distorted its threat assessment of feminist organizing. Combining gender analysis and critical approaches to state surveillance, Christabelle Sethna and Steve Hewitt consider the machinations of the RCMP, including its bureaucratic evolution, intelligence-gathering operations, and impact, as well as the evolution of the women’s liberation movement from its broad transnational influences to its elusive quest for unity among women across lines of ideology and identity. Significantly, the authors also grapple with the historiographical, methodological, and ethical difficulties of working with declassified security documents and sensitive information. A sharp-eyed inquiry into spy policies and tactics in Cold War Canada, Just Watch Us speaks to the serious political implications of state surveillance for social justice activism in liberal democracies.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, in the midst of the Cold War and second-wave feminism, the RCMP security service – prompted by fears of left-wing and communist subversion – monitored and infiltrated the women’s liberation movement in Canada and Quebec. Just Watch Us investigates why and how this movement was targeted, weighing carefully the presumed threat its left-wing ties presented to the Canadian government against the defiant challenge its campaign for gender equality posed to Canadian society. Based on a close reading of thousands of pages of RCMP documents declassified under Canada’s Access to Information Act and the corresponding Privacy Act, Just Watch Us demonstrates that the security service’s longstanding anti-Communist focus distorted its threat assessment of feminist organizing. Combining gender analysis and critical approaches to state surveillance, Christabelle Sethna and Steve Hewitt consider the machinations of the RCMP, including its bureaucratic evolution, intelligence-gathering operations, and impact, as well as the evolution of the women’s liberation movement from its broad transnational influences to its elusive quest for unity among women across lines of ideology and identity. Significantly, the authors also grapple with the historiographical, methodological, and ethical difficulties of working with declassified security documents and sensitive information. A sharp-eyed inquiry into spy policies and tactics in Cold War Canada, Just Watch Us speaks to the serious political implications of state surveillance for social justice activism in liberal democracies.

More books from MQUP

Cover of the book Measuring the Value of a Postsecondary Education by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book 100 Questions about Women and Politics by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Witch Hunts by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Canada: The State of the Federation, 2013 by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Canada: The State of the Federation, 2011 by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book My Life for the Book by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Patriots and Profiteers by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Into Silence and Servitude by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book L'Église et la politique québécoise, de Taschereau à Duplessis by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book The Grandmothers' Movement by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Diagnosing Genius by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Staging Modernist Lives by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book Invisible Injured by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
Cover of the book The Crisis of Modernity by Christabelle Sethna, Steve Hewitt
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy