Countering unilinear biopolitics Creative tactics of conviviality in times of a pandemic crisis

Abstract

The pandemic caused by Covid-19 has conjured an apocalyptical spectre that is felt beyond religious fundamentalist movements. Giorgio Agamben, one of the most renowned Italian philosophers, for example, has heralded the doom of the European liberal-democratic spirit in a series of brief messages. Agamben’s criticism (including underlying concepts) as well as reactions thereto are presented in the first part of this article. The second part offers a reflection on Ivan Illich’s notions of conviviality and friendship and uses Michel de Certeau’s category of tactics with the aim of identifying a number of concrete practices that have proven to be popular and effective in fostering, maintaining and reinventing communal life despite the many restrictions at the time. This discussion should reveal the ingenious creativity inherent in anyone and everyone, refuting Agamben’s claims that reduce human existence to “bare life”.