Dr. Gebre Gebremariam To avert the danger of losing sovereignty and national identity, and ultimately reverse the process of societal decay, it is imperative for Eritreans to fully understand the nature and characteristics of the evil force that has been at work from the get go. With an ultimate objective of weakening Eritrea and undermining its sovereignty, the regime presided over a synergetic vicious cycle of extractive political and economic institutions for more than two decades. The root cause for the decadence of the Eritrean society as a sovereign entity is systemic and it requires a system approach to reverse the course and address the fundamental problem. Hence, the fundamental contradiction that should take precedence in our struggle for justice, rule of law and democracy in Eritrea is the one between ‘dictatorship and injustice’, on one side and ‘pluralism and justice’, on the other side. Differences that emanate from other societal cleavages, such as religion, culture, language, region, historical background (ELF vs. EPLF), etc, do not and should not constitute as basic contradictions in the Eritrean society. Since inclusive and plural political and economic institutions allow and encourage the participation of the great majority of the people, and also distribute power broadly in society, such issues (differences) are addressed by the normal process of the democratic transition under a system of political pluralism.