Belarus’s beleaguered opposition is flirting with violence
Is a liberation army forming?
The cyber Partisans, a group of anonymous dissidents, have hacked their way to the very top of Belarus’s authoritarian regime. They claim that last year when Alexander Lukashenko, the country’s dictatorial president, said he was more scared of cyber weapons than nuclear weapons, he was thinking of them. “What opposition group can say that they have the passport information of all its country’s citizens :)” typed a hacker identified only as Cyber #3. They have reason to grin. The Cyber Partisans are the cutting edge of a militant wing of Belarus’s opposition that is gearing up for action.
In a Warsaw safehouse, one dissident preparing to return to Belarus fidgeted nervously with a lighter. “We are waiting, but we don’t know what we are waiting for,” he complained. “Everyone is frustrated. Everyone is scared.” Crackdowns have caused many to abandon the dangerous game of dissident politics entirely. That despair has, however, led some to consider more radical methods.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Meet the hackers"
Europe April 1st 2023
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- Why Russian oil and gas is still flowing through Ukraine
- Belarus’s beleaguered opposition is flirting with violence
- What to do with Russia’s abandoned luxury yachts?
- More strikes and demonstrations against French pension reform
- A surge of migrants is reaching Italy
- Europe is unprepared for what might come next in America
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