Abstract
Introducing three papers which have as their theme Indigenous and non-Indigenous rights, this paper offers a set of frameworks through which to read the various discourses as they have steered debates since colonialisation. It examines the way Indigenous rights have been contested against a colonial legal framework, first through the guiee of assimilation, various definitions of ‘reconciliation’, and self determination, and finally in the claim for land rights in New South Wales. It argues that the philosopher Martin Buber offers a means of achieving rights for everyone, through his I-Thou model of inter-subjectivity.
Highlights
Charting dialogues beyond neo-conservatism forces us to address the question of rights and, more the question of ‘whose rights?’ From the earliest days of the Australian colonial invasion, to the current would-be post-colonial dispensation, Indigenous peoples have been subjected to a range of exceptional rights regimes, interventions and special measures
A close parallel can be drawn from the inter-subjective ‘I-Thou’ nexus, posited by the Austrian philosopher, Martin Buber, in the 1920s
First there is some discussion of the issues raised in the three papers. These issues are illustrated through a brief survey of Indigenous rights in Australian history, in order to contextualise the accounts to follow
Summary
A key focus is to identify how much, if at all, the first peoples of Australia have access to the same rights as non-Indigenous Australians. It is that the relationship of a form of activism to social movements becomes apparent, as does the invincibility of coloniser governments, regardless of how much they claim to be promoting Indigenous rights.
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