COVID-19 and (ir)responsible mobility: Reading counter-practices through Derrida

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, issues of civic (ir)responsibility were often raised when people broke immobility rules. Despite widespread public debate, the issue of responsibility has attracted little academic attention, as if to act responsibly simply meant obeying dominant (illiberal) norms. This article critically investigates the relationship between mobility and (ir)responsibility. It engages with the following questions: is mobility during a time of forced immobility always an irresponsible act? Should (ir)responsibility also take into account the motives for mobility? To what extent does assisting or making visible those in need transform mobility into responsible mobility? These questions are considered in the context of certain mobility counter-practices adopted in Paris to cater to the needs of marginalised and invisible groups. In particular, this article investigates responsibility and irresponsibility through the lenses of Jacques Derrida’s work, which reads the two terms as inherently interlinked, because any decision on how to act necessarily encompasses both.