Fernando Pessoa

Anarşist Banker & Şeytanın Saati

Anarchist Banker

Dimitris Papastergiou

This one is a daring exploration of anarchism, presented in a clear and accessible manner. Through a fictional dialogue, the author challenges traditional ideas about power, hierarchy, and money, encouraging readers to question societal structures. The book presents a balanced argument, acknowledging the problems of having anarchism in the real world. 

The writing style and the dialogue are just a thrill to read, they make complex concepts easier to understand. While it may not appeal to everyone, it is a valuable read for those seeking intellectual stimulation and philosophical reflection. 

Let's get right into it, the dialogue is between 2 friends I guess, let's say the author is the one, and the other one is the banker, which trying to prove that he's the real anarchist even though he is a banker.

"To help someone, my friend, is to treat him as being incapable; if this person is not incapable, making him so or assuming him to be so, is in the first case tyranny, and in the second contempt. In one case someone limits the freedom of another; in the other someone starts out, at least unconsciously, with the assumption that the other person is worthless and unworthy or incapable of freedom.”

First of all, the banker here, the character. Huge ego. HUGE.

Bro creates problems, which I agree with, and better yet, names problems in society and gives no answers, so the banker who says what he says, and I agree with most of his ideas, is ending up bitching about social institutions without giving a solution other than that this is the problem and that's why I'm an anarchist and I'm a better and smarter person than all the others.

But wait.. he holds his precious solution until the end, which basically there is no actual solution unless you delete how the world works and rebuild it again in short, start a war and make everyone equal, to have some kind of communism. 

The character is at times annoying, because he talks in absolutes, and has a strong opinion about everything and doesn't let the other person form an opinion or even have him discuss anything about a subject that he thinks he knows more and best. He's the type of guy who he won't let you finish what you're saying and start talking over you just to tell you the exact same shit he just said before you replied. And that was what made it interesting and annoying and made me wanna read more and also slap the shit outta the banker. 

The banker tells us throughout the whole conversation that he grew up developing himself into an anarchist and taking action and doing this and that, but only vaguely saying that he was an anarchist with a bunch of his so called comrads, (a bunch of 20-year-olds mind you) but not once telling us exactly what he was doing while being an anarchist, an anarchist that in his own words were going to change the world with this plan of theirs. Bro. You were writing pamphletes and printed flyers? Fighting the system? What bro? Nothing. 

So, I take it that all of his propagandas were just political or antisocial to society as to just cause problems to whatever power he saw fit to his agenda. 

He says he and his buddies were trying to "fight the power" and basically remove any social institutions but he's not saying what did they actually do. Besides talking about that they did. This is the main problem of the book being analyzed and his only thought is to go to war but that's problematic too, because it creates hierarchies and that's false in anarchy too. So we're back at the beginning. I really liked the irony of the ending of the conversation and the banker's explanation and solution as to how become anarchist. I won't spoil it for you.

But he's basically laughing at society. Because to want to make the world a better place along with your friends, and then ending whatever goals you have had about any situation simply by caring only for yourself and how to stop "being controlled" without doing anything other than trying to find excuses and answers to fill in the blanks about questions like "how do I go away from this situation?", "how do I make things better for myself instead?" and the banker pretty much convinced himself with ease that everything he used to believe in and everything he wanted to do about it, it is now impossible so fuck them all, I'ma do me... and yet he kinda makes sense.

“If a man is born to be a slave, freedom, being contrary to his nature, will be a tyranny for him.” 

And the most important lesson here, is to think about and reconsider about your individual freedom as a person and what you can do and not do with it. The Banker is trying to explain to you that in a society built in a certain way, you can't do what you like, and you can either "be a coward" and run off to the hills, to "do what you want and live free" and this still bounds you by certain societal structures and whatnot, or you try to find loopholes in the social institution and do what's best for you and yours.

This one definitely goes on my list of books that make you think.


Highly recommended!

Ömer Karaçay

I expected this short story to be an amazing book with deep meaning, but it's very superficial.

Anarşist Banker & Şeytanın Saati

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