Tunisia's current calamities are the result of suppression, social inequality, and the absence of the factors enabling a peaceful change, said Muhammad ElBaradei. In a message on Twitter, the former Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and founder of the National Association for Change also said that such conditions constitute a "booby trap." Futhermore, in a YouTube video, ElBaredai said that what happened between Muslims and Copts in Egypt reflects suppression, economic deterioration, political oppression and social injustice in a society that is falling apart. He added that educational and religious institutions have created an atmosphere of hostility between Muslims and Copts, stressing that the government committed a "crime" by allowing the problem to become worse. We must recognize the existence of problems that threaten the unity of the Egyptian society, starting from laws on the construction of houses of worship to Coptic demands to assume high positions, he said, stressing that we should not bury our heads in the sand. He continued: "Copts' fear of going to church takes us back to the pre-Islamic era, which is totally unacceptable." He added that the Alexandria church bombing on New Year's Eve marks a new renaissance. ElBaradei said that the sectarian tension in Egypt is like the tension between the poor and the rich, and the government and the public. He pointed that a new home must be built where there is freedom of belief, freedom of expression and respect for the other. "There must be democracy and we must know that what unites us is much greater than what divides us. The real problem is not between Muslims and Copts; the problem is much bigger. What we see are only bubbles on the surface." Sectarian tension is only one of many tensions all Egyptians suffer from, he continued, and when a human being can not have a job, a chance for a dignified life, freedom of expression and freedom of belief, this creates a state of anger inside him; what is happening is just one form of expressing anger.
