Blood, Land, and Sex: Legal and Political Pluralism in Eritrea

Ten: Creating Space in a Changing World for Traditional and Religious Law

In our role as actors we enter from stage left and admit that since we discovered Eritrea—at very different times and circumstances—we have both been passionately involved and interested in the country. This love affair may be used by our detractors to devalue or deprecate our work as “idyllic,” “non-objective,” or a host of other epithets. Leaving aside the question of whether “scholarly objectivity” is ever possible in research carried out by a human being, or if the product of such anemic work is ever worth reading, we try to do our best to be judicious. Luckily, over the past four years we have been able to rein each other in and keep each other from being carried away on too great ®ights of fancy. And we are consoled by the fact that no book worth reading has ever been written by a non-compassionate, bloodless observer. We can say honestly that neither of us has pre-judged the issues. In the introduction, we promised the reader that we would demonstrate the value of a pluralistic multi-disciplinary approach to a number of important concerns, at the legal, political, and social level. We have dealt at length with the three fundamental issues of blood, land, and sex/gender. We feel that we have shown the value of our research in reaching a deeper understanding of what has gone on over the past few centuries in Eritrea. Different issues have been deconstructed and reassembled according to our lights; others may approach the puzzle in a different manner and come to different conclusions. Our analysis is constructive but not bloodless, and although we have left much unsaid, as the con-¤nes of this book do not allow us much more time, we con¤dently ex212 Ten Creating Space in a Changing World for Traditional and Religious Law The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and well being. —Emma Goldman1 pect that it will form a useful basis for further research both on our part and on the part of other scholars. To continue with our analogy drawn from Pirandello, the actors are waiting in the wings to continue the play; some of them do not know their lines very thoroughly so they will improvise.2 We give some of the closing lines, or broad conclusions, following the format of the preceding chapters. So we deal with issues of blood, land, and sex in that order. First of all we look at the international and transnational actor, because after a performance, the actors usually take their bows in reverse order. International and Transnational Actors We started this book talking about the origin many centuries ago of traditional and religious law in Eritrea. We end the book at a signi¤cant time in Eritrea’s history. The country is poor, vulnerable, and endeavoring to recover from a devastating war. It is particularly susceptible to a new, powerful, and in many observers’ eyes dangerous actor, that of the new world order envisaged by globalization. Large and rapacious transnational corporations (TNCs) are constantly searching for areas of the world where labor costs are low, labor organizations weak, and health and safety regulations lacking in punch. They are also looking for the most favorable investment climate, ¤scal system, and infrastructure, and they want to be sure they are able to repatriate the vast bulk of their pro¤ts. Eritrea could be a tempting venue. The current president dominates the political and economic landscape of the country. It is really only he whom the TNCs need to bring on board in order to ensure pro¤table operations. In the domain of law, globalization has made legal transplants such as a code, a legal institution, or single rules appealing for reasons that did not exist in the past. During the colonial period models were imposed. After decolonization, either the status quo before colonization was kept or transplants matched political alliances.3 During this period of upheaval , Eritrea against its will was the remotest province of Ethiopia, and therefore missed this important development. In theory, Eritrea can now choose. However, legal reform has become compulsory for another reason; it is now a necessity for a country that desires to be regarded as “modern” and therefore eligible to receive preferential international support and consideration. Legal reform has become a saleable commodity . At ¤rst sight, it might appear...