No social justice without liberty

I draw my reader’s attention to an excellent article by Henry Porter, “At last the great divide is coming into focus“. Although any article that has a go at Polly Toynbee can’t be all bad, this has lots of points to get liberals nodding in agreement. However, I particularly liked this point;

“The striking thing is how few in the government and among its supporters really grasp the substance of our complaints about liberty over the last 10 years. With dismal familiarity, we watch them move hastily from the matter in hand to rattle on about social justice. The trick, you see, is to portray concerns about liberty as a luxury for the privileged classes when what really matters is poverty and inequality. She must know that there can be no social justice without liberty, and vice versa. ” (My italics)

This highlights a classic Labour attack. An example that springs to my mind is those occasions when I’ve seen Liberal Democrat politicians who have expressed nervousness and scepticism about the introduction of ASBOs attacked as not caring about the plight of those people living on “run-down estates” who are suffering from anti-social behaviour.

We should not let them get away with it. We know that it is the poor, the vulnerable and the socially exclude who are in most need of having their liberties protected.

This content was originally posted on my old Process Guy blog.