Australian League of Rights
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- League of Rights redirects here. For the British group, see British League of Rights
The Australian League of Rights is a minor political organisation in Australia founded by Eric Butler, that claims to uphold the virtues of freedom. It is not a political party, but rather sees itself as a watchdog against government intervention.
The League strongly denies that a Holocaust occurred during World War II in which millions of people, particularly European Jews were killed, and is strongly supportive of the polemicist David Irving.[1] They believe that the world is run by a secret society of Jews.[1] The League is distinctive for asserting that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a genuine Jewish document (the Encyclopædia Britannica for example describes the Protocols as a "fraudulent document that served as a pretext and rationale for anti-Semitism in the early 20th century").
The League was formed in 1960 by a merger of various Leagues of Rights based in the Australian states, the first of which was based in South Australia from 1946.
The League claims to be based on the principles of Christianity and is vehement in its anti-communism. They argue in favour of capitalism by promoting the sanctity of private property and individual enterprise. They are keen promoters of Social Credit. They are strongly monarchist and completely opposed to Australian republicanism and see the links to Great Britain as being fundamental to Australian identity.
Critics have pointed to the past participation of the League in the World Anti Communist League alongside right wing figures such as Augusto Pinochet, whilst they have also been accused of being associated with the Australian National Socialist Party.[2] They also have strong connections to the One Nation Party and National Action.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the League attempted to gain control of the National Party of Australia by getting people to join the National Party in sufficient numbers to outvote non-League members. (This tactic is sometimes called entryism). Doug Anthony led an effort to defend the Party from the League by recruiting people who would vote against the League. After a multi-year struggle, the existing leadership prevailed. A surprising consequence of this struggle was that the National Party, which got far fewer votes than either the Labor or Liberal parties, had more members. This fact became much more widely known than the reason for it, because both sides kept the struggle out of the media.
On Friday June 9th 2006, the League's founder, Eric Butler, died at the age of 90.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ see The International Jew: The Truth About the Protocols of Zion, by Eric Butler. 1946
- ^ see Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: National Socialism in Australia and New Zealand, by David Harcourt. 1972. (pg. 115)
