The English riots of August 2011 have shocked the nation. An outburst of violence and criminality on this scale is unprecedented is the recent history of our country.

There’s a strand of thinking running through some sections of UK Society, which argues that the creeping liberalisation of Britain is a key cause of the recent riots which shocked the nation. This liberalisation has created an environment in which people feel it is acceptable for them to riot and loot, and that they will not face justice.

It is this line of thinking which lead to David Cameron once again discussing scrapping the Human Rights Act (something of a pet project for him, it seems), and internet users signing a petition to remove benefits for those convicted of rioting or looting.

This logic in turn justifies large punitive sentences for those even tangentially involved in the riots.

So let’s start with the question: “Has the liberalisation of society had a causative contribution to the riots of August 2011?”

The answer, in my opinion, is

“Yes”

Over the past 3 decades, we have sought to create a society which offers everybody increased personal rights and offers all an equal opportunity to succeed. Margaret Thatcher sought to create a society in which everybody could own their own homes. Tony Blair sought to create a society in which everybody obtained a university degree. We have all sought to create a society in which the individual has more personal freedom of expression and behaviour. All of these aims seem to be prima facie worthwhile.

However, despite the efforts of well-meaning (or otherwise) politicians and social reformers, it remains a fact that some people continue to be excluded from this success, opportunity and freedom. We can discuss the whys and wherefores of this elsewhere.

It cannot possibly be a coincidence that rioting took place in areas which are traditionally associated with such “social exclusion”. Nor that they were largely self-destructive. If the prevailing mood is that you have nothing to lose, and you are not answered or answerable, if your personal freedoms are frequently invaded by the police in their desperate attempts to control a background level of crime, your conduct will inevitably be self-destructive.

Overlay that with a society which evaluates worth in financial terms, and well; the outcome should be obvious.

Grant the individual more freedom, promise them more opportunity, then present them with a reality which differs from the narrative and the wider experience of society; inevitably their response will not be a positive one.

So yes: the liberalisation of society has indisputably contributed to the riots.

But: is there anything fundamentally wrong with the idea that everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed? Is there anything fundamentally wrong with the idea that the individual should have more freedom in return for greater stake in and responsibility to society as a whole?

It is an unarguable fact that the Emancipation from Slavery Act and later the US Civil Rights movement of 1955–1968 eventually led to the race riots of the late 60s.

The progressive enfranchisement of the British electorate, and the increasing liberation of women eventually led to the Black Friday riot

The liberation of Rwanda from imperialism led almost immediately to the Rwandan genocide.

There are countless examples where a forward progression in social freedoms has been accompanied with concomitant outbursts of violence, but I’d like to think that we can all agree that these are simply the growing pains of an increasingly fair and free world.

Let’s not throw the baby out of the bathwater in our response to these riots. A small minority of criminals played havoc on our streets, and caused damage to the fabric society, but that’s no reason for us to start going backwards. Let’s keep liberalising our society. Let’s keep increasing personal freedoms and opportunity. Let’s keep on giving the individual more resposibility to, and involvement in, the whole of society.

Next time somebody tells you that liberalisation caused the riots, just say, “Yes, but please let’s not turn the clock back on progress.”

Footnote: The last time I felt so compelled to preamble my words with a stern condemnation like the one at the start of this post, was in the early years of this century when discussing 9/11. Let’s not make our response to this current crisis as illiberal and damaging as our response to 9/11 was.