Liberalism has betrayed the working class, but illiberalism will do much worse

If we fail to uphold liberty, equality and democracy, where will our society be?

- Kenan Malik

he threat of mass deportations.

‘The erosion of the right to protest.

‘Treating protest groups as terrorists.

‘The enforcement of blasphemy laws through the back door.

Imprisonment for offensive slogans and tweets. The growth of ethnonationalist accounts of belonging.

Much of contemporary policymaking and political debate is infused with a spirit of illiberalism, with a desire to curb individual rights, to squeeze the space for dissenting views, and to restrict, too, the people and groups to which rights can apply.

Behind the rise of illiberalism lies a confusion over what liberalism is — and how to challenge it. Liberalism has become emblematic of much of what is wrong with society, from the inequalities created by globalisation to the democratic deficit established by transnational organisations, from the cultural impact of mass immigration to the breakdown of working-class communities. Much of this criticism is well merited. But the critique often also conflates those aspects of liberalism that are injurious to a flourishing society with those that are essential to it.