Partisans go cyber: The hacker ethic and partisans’ legacy

Abstract

The article discusses the role of hackers and hacktivists in modern hybrid conflicts, in particular the ‘localization’ patterns of hackerism, by focusing on the case of the Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans. The study shows the significance of the partisan movement for modern Belarusian identity and historical memory and discusses the attempts of appropriation of this topic by various political actors. The comparison between hacktivism and partisan warfare holds a certain heuristic potential, making it possible to build conceptual categories for the analysis of the hacktivists’ practices and their ethical norms. Parallels may be drawn between the hackers and partisans (along with more common analogies with the pirates and ‘social bandits’) to gain a better understanding of the historical and ideological roots of the hacker movement in the ethical sphere. One of the most famous interpretations of the concept partisan belongs to the German jurist and political theorist Carl Schmitt, whose approach accentuates the partisan’s connection with the local territory (the telluric nature of the partisan). An interesting way to compare the hacker and partisan ethic is to look at both of them from the game-related perspective. For example, the situations described in the ‘partisan’ literature have much in common with the prisoner’s dilemma — a popular game theory paradox. These situations of moral choice foster a particular kind of subjectivity which is closely entwined with keeping true and remaining loyal, a subjectivity that is apt to handle certain information with discretion and care. The study explores the heuristic potential of the concept nomos for the analysis of the partisan ethic and hacker ethic. The proposed concept nomos of the swamp develops Karl Schmitt’s ideas and can be applied to reveal the specifics of the partisan activity in Belarus and to analyze partisanship in connection to the historical and modern forms of ‘partisan’ hacktivism. © St. Petersburg State University, 2023.