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Taking Civil Rights Seriously
Author(s) -
Chesterman John
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8497.00110
Subject(s) - indigenous rights , indigenous , political science , civil rights , politics , variety (cybernetics) , right to property , law , amnesia , human rights , international human rights law , psychology , psychiatry , computer science , biology , ecology , artificial intelligence
For a variety of reasons Australians possess a curious lack of understanding about the gaining of civil rights by Indigenous people. These reasons include the lack of a clear civil rights ‘moment’ in Australian history and the negative connotations now associated with civil rights when compared to the more radical Indigenous rights. This article explores the reasons for Australia's public amnesia about Indigenous people's acquisition of civil rights, and makes a case for repositioning this occurrence as a key time in Australian political history.