Page 82 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

luigi ciotti

The double presence of mafia

All this fosters criminal organisations. In those countries where social
policies are reduced to the minimum and millions of individuals cannot afford
the essential to survive, criminal organisations are present in two different
ways. On the one hand, they penetrate the structure of the economy that, with
its interpretation of “liberalism”, has drastically blurred the borders between
what is legal and what is not and, as a result, has expanded the area for cor-
ruption.

On the other hand, they act as bank for those people victims of the eco-
nomic crisis: from the entrepreneur, to the business owner, to the regular citi-
zen. Of course, I cannot state that criminal organisations are the direct conse-
quence of poverty and backwardness, what I can say is that those conditions
of disadvantage, of unemployment, of social vacuum, represent the best con-
dition for their spreading.

One slap for the mafia bosses equals a victory for the State

Italy has an effective tool to tackle criminal organisations: the law on the
use of confiscated assets for social purposes. In 1996 “Libera”, gathered one
million petition signatures to pass that law. What does that law provide for?
Assets belonging to criminal organisations have to be returned to the State and
eventually converted into workplaces, places for culture, for freedom. These
places will become bastion of a responsible community that is the real antidote
against the mafia way of thinking and against its businesses.

This law has allowed to achieve important results – many properties con-
fiscated have been used as schools, nurseries, libraries, youth centres, parks, far-
ming cooperatives, social services- but the whole process should be made
more trenchant, lighten it from certain red tape, coordinate all the subjects
involved (Prefectures, local administrations, associations), make sure that cer-
tain areas of interest, such as companies confiscated, have adequate means to
generate a healthy economy, transparent and cater for the needs and hope of
people.

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