Genina Iacobone

In this issue we are publishing articles relating to old diseases, which had been largely overcome in the western countries since research had found an antidote for them with preventive vaccination, and which have now become topical again after the Taliban terrorist’s threats and the actual cases that have developed. Conveying scientific information is our task.

These days it has become a real duty to offer useful and updated information, to assist timely diagnosis of the diseases that may be spread by the terrorists. This is our way of fighting the boundless biological war, which is causing so much apprehension. We often hear, in the various talk shows, that terrorism arises from peoples’ hardships and privations. We ought to stress that similar arguments have also been brought up in analysing the origins of the Mafia. These are pseudo-sociologic considerations and debates that do not suggest tangible and realistic solutions for such urgent issues. However, it appears useful to compare these two characters that today generate so much discussion, the Mafioso and the terrorist, because in these debates the substantial difference that exists between the two is not detected. A terrorist lives “in disguise”, trying to go unnoticed, acting in an utterly normal way, in order to be regarded as a responsible, respectable and reliable person. On the other hand, a Mafioso can be identified through his behaviour. Salvatore Scarpino, in an editorial published by the daily paper Il Tempo (28 Aug. 2000), in his unmistakable style lists the rules a perfect Mafioso always abides by. We are quoting here a few passages from this article, since we feel they may prove useful: “The first and ultimate rule of a perfect Mafioso is simple: lead a bullying life. A clear formula, which involves many things: infringing the law, organising illicit trade, bending institutions’ will to comply with private interests, with a constant resort to violence, attacking one person, threatening one hundred, bribing ten………”. “At the root of the subculture of the Mafia gangs is the exaggerated cult of the ego in a bestial world: living by bullying, dissembling, deceiving, and at the same time ensuring that everybody knows how powerful and haughty, and therefore worthy of respect, a Mafioso is”. “Therefore, the only aim of a Mafioso is to acquire financial power in every possible (and especially illegal) way, because he deems that “a dirty dog who has money should be addressed as Mr Dog”. Therefore the activity of a Mafioso is aimed at power, the power of conditioning the life of wealthy individuals and obliging them to surrender to his will. On the other hand, a terrorist is swallowed up by a wealthy individual, who certainly does not use his wealth to help and provide welfare to the people, but to accomplish false ideals with methods whose aim is that of destroying the existing civilized society, in order to win “power”, the power to run society. Not infrequently, he also uses members of the Mafia, or any other people who may prove useful for the achievement of his purpose. You may wonder why we are making these considerations. Because we are pressed every day, through the mass media, to pay attention and carefully observe whatever and whoever surrounds us, in order to identify potential terrorists. Terrorism and Mafia possibly originate from social unease, but they certainly share a major factor: they are carcinogenic cells within our society: in order to recover, we need to make an early diagnosis and be able to implement an effective therapy.