Parliamentary rightists…birds of a feather, all flocking together

Written by: (Contributed) on 24 June 2025

With the end of the era of globalisation in sight, it is important to study how it evolved from its origins. Moves to implement economic rationalism in the 1970s were accompanied by the creation of the International Democrat Union (IDU) in the early 1980s to legitimise the policies into mainstream centre-right parties: privatisation, de-regulation, liberalisation.

While the centre-right were quick to applaud economic rationalism they turned a blind-eye to what accompanied it and continue to remain in a state of denial; repression, far-right political involvement and widespread criminal activity, developing alongside the policies, which drew upon the opening of 'opportunities'. Some of the main players remain people of interest, carrying considerable baggage.

The IDU was officially established in London on 24 June 1983, and was composed of nineteen centre-right political parties. The Conservative Party of prime minister Margaret Thatcher was a founding member and major player within the organisation in conjunction with US vice-president George HW Bush, a former director of the CIA under President Ford in 1976. The Australian Liberal Party of Andrew Peacock, with deputy leader John Howard waiting in the wings, was another founding member. It was a tradecraft front-organisation.

The main task of the newly created IDU was to legitimise economic rationalist policies, which favoured the corporate sector at the expense of all other sectors of society. The aim was to increase the levels of exploitation of labour against those of capital, having direct implications for traditional industrial relations techniques and the role of trade unions.

The policies were unpopular with many economists who regarded the outdated right-wing philosophies of the Chicago School of Economics of the 1920s as a relic of inter-war failures. The policies had, however, been revamped for Cold War use in 1973 with their imposition by the Pinochet military dictatorship following the September coup of that year, with serious political implications. Seemingly 'democratic' countries do not favour coups.

The role of the US behind Pinochet had been well publicised elsewhere; it has been noted that 'the junta – the new military leadership – killed 30,000 former Allende government supporters in the first few months of power. Most were arrested, tortured and disappeared'. (1) The repression, however, did not end there. General Pinochet was actually noted as stating his military policies for the DINA, the secret police, were:

First, the aim was to stop terrorism,
First, we kill all the subversives,
then we will kill their collaborators;
then their sympathisers;
then those who are indifferent. (2)

The main instrument of power adopted by Pinochet was Operation Condor, which was established by linking intelligence services across the southern half of the Americas, which, at that time, were controlled largely by right-wing military regimes. (3)

Other players were drawn into the military planning.

Established during the previous Cold War, the Taiwan and South Korea-based World Anti-Communist League (WACL) specialised in counter-insurgency and country-intelligence training, and was increasingly drawn into Latin American repression during the 1970s. (4) In fact, it was noted that in the early 1970s the largely Asian-based far-right organisation had 'created the entire Latin network'. (5)

The WACL has been described as an 'umbrella organisation for extreme tight-wing militants. It includes expatriate Nazis, Italian terrorists, Japanese fascists, racist Afrikaners, Latin American death squad leaders, a number of US congressmen and former CIA agents'. (6) The overlap between Operation Condor and the WACL has not been difficult to establish, with Argentina being a central player: the Triple A in the 1970s became 'an organisation of right-wing murder, terror and propaganda whose activity was co-ordinated with the military regime. It was also the Argentine branch of the WACL'. (7) Studies of the period, furthermore, found that 'the WACL … was … the primary exporter of the Argentine Dirty War'. (8)

It also soon provided much of the organisational frameworks and networks which became the Iran-Contra conspiracy, when illegal arms trafficking merged with drug trafficking to sponsor covert operations. The US intelligence services were heavily implicated in the conspiracy with organised crime. (9)

The repressive apparatus was soon extended into Europe and Southern Africa with the notorious Third Phase which included 'the formation of special teams from member countries to travel anywhere in the world to non-member countries to carry out sanctions, including, assassinations, against terrorists or supporters of a terrorist organisation from Operation Condor member countries'. (10)

The Third Phase would appear to have operated in conjunction with co-ordinated counter-intelligence activities conducted by US-trained personnel world-wide, against those perceived and profiled as opposing the US Defence Department, 'during peacetime and all levels of conflict'. (11) It was the age of computerisation of intelligence records and profiles.

It also included representatives of the West German, French and British intelligence services
visiting 'Argentina to discuss methods for establishment of an anti-subversive organisation similar to Condor' in September 1977. (12) Concerns had arisen that the 'terrorist/subversive threat had reached such dangerous levels in Europe that they believed it best if they pooled intelligence resources in a co-operative organisation such as Condor'. (13)

In Southern Africa the Argentine military regime, which was waging a Dirty War against the political opposition, enabled four Condor specialists attached to the Argentine Embassy in Pretoria in 1979 to train South African security police and counterparts where they 'exchanged ideas regarding methods of interrogation'. (14)

The timing of the creation of the IDU may also have been linked to developments in Argentina of the same year. Following the Malvinas/Falklands War in 1982, the military junta in Buenos Aires was forced to stand down and make way for a transition to democratic
elections. In December, 1983, Argentina had an elected government. (15) Some of the nineteen founder members of the IDU, and their associates, however, might have been just a little concerned about the implications of Argentina re-claiming democratic credentials and their possible disclosures about what had accompanied the Dirty War with their connivance.

When John Howard, Australian Liberal Party leader, took office as chair of the IDU, which he served for over a decade before stepping down in 2014, he must have known about the shadowy historical and highly questionable background of the organisation and their associates. Ignorance is no excuse; his own parliamentary security personnel must have known, or had access to those who did. The Office of National Assessments, likewise, must have known. That was their job. If they were competent.

In light of revelations emerging under his tenure, Howard's silence over the issue remains highly questionable. In 2006, for example, an Argentine judge ruled that Rodolpo Almiron, a former leader of the Triple A, previously employed by Manuel Fraga as chief of his personal security team, was to be charged with 'crimes against humanity'. (16) Fraga, and his Francoist People's Alliance, were among the original founders of the IDU. It happened on Howard's 'watch'; people at the top are expected to be kept informed by their supporters.

Secondly, Howard's attendance and active involvement with the WACL and later re-named World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD), has appeared to be conveniently overlooked by his supporters. In 1989, a total of 120 delegates representing fifty countries attended the 22nd WACL annual conference in Brisbane. (17) It seems almost unbelievable that 120 people representing such an organisation could be allowed to enter Australia. Or is it? The immigration department, presumably, looked the other way as the motley crew walked into Australia carrying suitcases. Was their baggage even checked?

When former Australian Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison joined the board of the IDU in 2022, just what did he know? His smug, complacent grin, had already become the hallmark of his political leadership as he portrayed himself as Mr Squeaky Clean.
Perhaps when his successor Peter Dutton stated 'I just don't care what their ideology is … I'm not getting into silly, stupid, petty arguments or discussions about that sort of interpretation', he revealed a reluctance to face the facts about the patronage system he was also part of. (18) To state it carried considerable baggage would be an under-statement. It remains a sad fact of life, furthermore, that many of those involved in the far-right organisations possessed other agendas and a readiness to be ruthless, if, and when, required.

A number of related matters subsequently arose: following his demise as Liberal leader in the May elections, a panel in the NSW Liberal Party 'which was parachuted in by Mr Dutton
… was collectively removed with the statement … this is a welcome transition on the way back to a reformed and democratically elected state executive'. (19) Who were the old one?

Australian Liberal Party financial members have until 1 August to provide submissions to a review of party policy and strategy setting, 'following the devastating election loss that saw Peter Dutton unseated as leader and member for Dickson'. (20) The review is likely to resemble a series of polite after-dinner chit-chats amongst those who remain part of the elite patronage system; their career pathways have already been mapped out, why would they want any serious change to the structures of which they have a vested interest in retaining? Employment in banking, the diplomatic service, academia, intelligence agencies and other occupations await them. They do not even have to formally apply; opportunities are offered. There is no unemployment in their circles. But only jobs for the 'boys and girls'.

It is doubtful, therefore, whether those concerned will be reviewing any of their party links with the IDU, which would appear a collection of questionable entities pursuing diverse agendas. But then, why would they? The review is far more likely to be a whitewash job, to cover over any incriminating evidence about an organisation responsible for co-ordinating the Australian-led implementation of globalisation. And with the IDU organisation seemingly intact, with Israel and Taiwan now as members, it will now be preparing for what will eventually replace globalisation, with the full connivance of the Australian Liberal Party as their faithful and obedient servants, like puppets on a string.

Birds of a feather, mate, they certainly do flock together!

1. 1968-1976, Chile: Killing a Democracy, A People's History of the CIA, Issue 43, December 2000, page 27.
2. The CIA's secret global war against the left, Jacobin, Branko Marcetic, 30 November 2020.
3. 1976, South America: Operation Condor cross-border killing, People's History, op.cit., page 31.
4. Inside the League, Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, (New York, 1986), page 79.
5. Ibid.
6. 1978-1992, El Salvador: Training the Death Squads, Peoples History, op.cit., page 32; and, The Beast Reawakens, Martin Lee, (London, 1997), page 189.
7. Old Nazis, the New Right and the Republican Party, Ross Bellant, (Boston, 1988), page 85.
8. Website: History of the WACL, Part One: 1945-85, reference Triple A/Argentina.
9. Revealed: Pinochet drug link, The Observer (London), 10 December 2000; and, The Iran-Contra Scandal, The Declassified History, Edited by Peter Kornbluh and Malcolm Byrne, (New York, 1993).
10. 1976, South America, Peoples History, op.cit., page 31.
11. See: Army Foreign Intelligence Assistance Program, AR 381-20, Section 1.5, Mission and Policy, page 1, Declassified 15 November 1993.
12. Intelligence Information Cable, 7 April 1978, filed 'Condor', page 1, Declassified.
13. Ibid., page 2; and, European spies sought lessons, The Guardian (U.K.), 16 April 2019; and, CIA declassified info, teleSur, 20 April 2019.
14. See: South Africa Truth Commission, Final Report, Volume 2, Chapter 3, Sub-section 14, 126, Ref: Alfredo Asti; and, The Disappeared, Voices from a secret war, John Simpson and Jana Bennett, (London, 1985), pp. 347-48.
15. See: 40 years later, The Buenos Aires Herald, 9 December 2023.
16. Ex-director of Triple A, El Mundo (Spain), 28 December 2006.
17. Website: WACL/WLFD.
18. Peter Dutton says distinctions between forms of extremism are 'silly, stupid and petty',
Today News Posts (Australia), 4 December 2020.
19. Autopsy into Libs' dead duck campaign, Australian, 18 June 2025.
20. Ibid.