There are some similarities between organized crime and terrorism, however, we are talking about different phenomena. On the one hand, organized crime is understood as a means for the commission of crimes, which require a certain level of planning and the joint and coordinated participation of several people.
In turn, terrorism is a form of violent struggle, the violence of terrorism is used against the civilian population and its objective is political, so terrorism seeks to sow confusion, scare or irritate the population or its leaders, in addition to capture the attention of international public opinion, sow doubts about the legitimacy of a political regime, provoke internal conflicts in threatened societies and mobilize supporters of the cause defended by terrorists, etc.
- “This is not a game.
- Horrible man.
- ” said Mr.
- Poe.
- Dominoes are a game.
- Water polo is a game.
- Murder is a crime and you’re going to pay for it in jail ???The reptile room? (1999).
- Daniel Handler-.
The main objective of organized crime is profit. Criminal organizations are looking for money, the more money the better. Terrorism, on the other hand, has political purposes, such as changing a system, gaining independence, or some kind of political or religious advantage.
However, there are also similarities; Terrorist organizations need money to finance armed struggle, such as buying weapons, recruiting and propaganda, preparing and executing attacks, etc. , and organized crime can control the policy and functioning of public institutions.
On the other hand, the influence in the political sphere is different, organized crime seeks to profit, but not to change the established order; terrorism, on the other hand, seeks to transform or destabilize existing institutions or force their representatives to take decisions. measures contrary to their principles and interests.
“I had the sad feeling that it was not over yet and that he would soon commit a terrible crime, which would erase the memory of his previous crime with its magnitude. “”Frankenstein? (1818), Mary Shelley?
Both terrorism and organized crime seek to make economic gains and influence political activities, the big difference is that if organized crime has the ultimate goal of profit, the ultimate goal of terrorism is political. Still, both are involved in criminal activities.
On the other hand, organized crime is more common than terrorism, i. e. there are more criminal organizations than terrorist groups that commit crimes, organized crime is more willing to sacrifice its security for more funding.
Terrorist attacks generally do not provide financing, but on the contrary, require large sums of money, so terrorist groups generally prefer to have the security to act.
One last difference between organized crime and terrorism is the way they use violence, the effectiveness of a terrorist attack depends on its impact reaching a wide audience, some people are attacked to intimidate many others, so the more spectacular an attack is, the more people will realize it. In this way, you will get maximum attention and advertising.
However, if the attack kills many people, it could backfire, because instead of gaining followers, it will be rejected.
In turn, organized crime seeks anonymity. Criminals aspire to commit their crimes without being identified so as not to compromise their criminal career, so violence usually practiced by organized crime groups tends to prevent publicity, at least they don’t deliberately seek it.
In short, while terrorism and organized crime share certain characteristics, they also have decisive differences, particularly while sharing certain objectives, the ultimate goal is different, organized crime seeks to profit economically, and terrorism seeks change at the political level. , organized crime is more prevalent and violence is usually anonymous, while terrorism seeks to make violence visible.
“My view is that of the ‘condemned of the Earth’, that of the excluded. However, I do not accept, in the name of anything, terrorist acts, because they result in the deaths of innocent people and the insecurity of human beings. Does terrorism deny what I call universal human ethics?Self-reliance education? (1996), Paulo Freire?