Piratical transgressions, political transgressions. Re-reading Schmitt's "Theory of the partisan"
By inserting the phenomenon of piracy into the genealogy of capitalism, and by turning freebooting into a form of "pure criminality", Schmitt misses the fact that there were eras in which piracy went beyond plunder and seizure of ships and took on another dimension, becoming a political act that radically challenged established orders.
Writing in 1950, Carl Schmitt described the English freebooters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries not only as "pioneers of the new freedom of the seas, a freedom that was essentially not state-based", but also as "maritime partisans in an age of transition in the worldwide rivalry between Catholic and Protestant powers". In 1963, however, Schmitt changed his mind: Whereas, in the past, [...] I said that pirates and freebooters at the beginning of the capitalist era were maritime partisans, today I must correct that inexact terminology. The partisan has an enemy and is endangered by something quite different from someone who runs a blockade or transports contraband arms. Is this correction merely anecdotal or does it have important historical, conceptual, political or juridical implications? Why should Schmitt find it necessary, in 1963, to make a distinction between the kind of struggle carried out by the "partisan" and one fought by the pirate? Why is a partisan war not just the terrestrial version of the war waged by pirates?
For Schmitt, the first thing was to prevent any "confusion between the concepts" of the pirate and partisan. Certainly, both are dissidents and non-conformists. However, it needs to be asked precisely how the two terms are being used. By re-establishing the essential features that distinguish the partisan and the pirate, it is possible to better understand the historical departures and theoretical innovations implied by these transgressive figures. Let us begin with Carl Schmitt, who in his Theory of the Partisan offers four "criteria" that identify the figure of the partisan: "lawlessness, a high degree of mobility, intensity of political engagement and a telluric nature"...
According to Marcus Rediker, the contemporary historian of piracy, "piracy amounts to large-scale criminality. It was also a way of life voluntarily adopted, in most cases, by a large number of men who openly defied the rules of a society from which they excluded themselves." The recent historical re-evaluation of piracy has raised the notion of the "pirate Utopia", both in terms of religious practices, in particular freedom of religion and tolerance, and in terms of economic and social matters, with egalitarianism being practiced in the sharing of resources and dividing up of spoils. According to Daniel Defoe, the "code" of Bartholomew Roberts's crew, stipulated that "the captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize; the master gunner and boatswain one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter". The pirate utopia also involved mutual assistance and the acknowledgment of incapacity. This same "code" stated that "if [...] any man should lose a limb, or become a cripple in their service, he was to have eight hundred dollars, out of the public stock, and for lesser hurts, proportionately."..
Read more: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/article_2012-07-13-weber-en.html
Writing in 1950, Carl Schmitt described the English freebooters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries not only as "pioneers of the new freedom of the seas, a freedom that was essentially not state-based", but also as "maritime partisans in an age of transition in the worldwide rivalry between Catholic and Protestant powers". In 1963, however, Schmitt changed his mind: Whereas, in the past, [...] I said that pirates and freebooters at the beginning of the capitalist era were maritime partisans, today I must correct that inexact terminology. The partisan has an enemy and is endangered by something quite different from someone who runs a blockade or transports contraband arms. Is this correction merely anecdotal or does it have important historical, conceptual, political or juridical implications? Why should Schmitt find it necessary, in 1963, to make a distinction between the kind of struggle carried out by the "partisan" and one fought by the pirate? Why is a partisan war not just the terrestrial version of the war waged by pirates?
For Schmitt, the first thing was to prevent any "confusion between the concepts" of the pirate and partisan. Certainly, both are dissidents and non-conformists. However, it needs to be asked precisely how the two terms are being used. By re-establishing the essential features that distinguish the partisan and the pirate, it is possible to better understand the historical departures and theoretical innovations implied by these transgressive figures. Let us begin with Carl Schmitt, who in his Theory of the Partisan offers four "criteria" that identify the figure of the partisan: "lawlessness, a high degree of mobility, intensity of political engagement and a telluric nature"...
According to Marcus Rediker, the contemporary historian of piracy, "piracy amounts to large-scale criminality. It was also a way of life voluntarily adopted, in most cases, by a large number of men who openly defied the rules of a society from which they excluded themselves." The recent historical re-evaluation of piracy has raised the notion of the "pirate Utopia", both in terms of religious practices, in particular freedom of religion and tolerance, and in terms of economic and social matters, with egalitarianism being practiced in the sharing of resources and dividing up of spoils. According to Daniel Defoe, the "code" of Bartholomew Roberts's crew, stipulated that "the captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize; the master gunner and boatswain one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter". The pirate utopia also involved mutual assistance and the acknowledgment of incapacity. This same "code" stated that "if [...] any man should lose a limb, or become a cripple in their service, he was to have eight hundred dollars, out of the public stock, and for lesser hurts, proportionately."..
Read more: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/article_2012-07-13-weber-en.html
