Slipping through the fence at Imperial Beach, San Diego, California. Brian Auer/Flickr. Creative Commons.
Mobility is widely understood as integral to human freedom, so much so that when injury, illness or old age restrict our capacity to move we are commonly referred to as ‘dis-abled’. This is also what makes imprisonment, or even house arrest, such a profound and terrifying punishment. Whether nipping to the shops, commuting for work, or travelling for leisure, mobility is and always has been an essential part of humankind’s economic, social, cultural and political life. To be able to move freely is a good. Yet in an unjust world, it is also an unearned and unequally distributed privilege.
Historically, the mobility of those who lack social and political power has been heavily restricted by those who don’t. Slaves, servants, the poor, women, children—all these groups have had their mobility, at one point or another, restricted by those in charge. The reasons why are obvious: freedom to move allows the subordinate a chance to escape from domination, to evade control, or to subvert the social order. Controlling mobility is controlling people.
