Pianist-musicologist Evren Kutlay is at Turkish Cultural Foundation

I am half way in Sarrazins tstaeire now. It is one of the most interesting and knowledgeable books I’ve seen over the past years. I’ve also been reading the comments in Der Spiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Die Welt and other German newspapers and journals. One thing that strikes me most in those comments that both the critics and admirers have not really been reading this book, that is, studying this work, but are simply reacting to secondary sources and comments. Internet speak mixed with unrestrained underbelly emotions very similar to those of the Dutch political leasure classes with a Christian-Democratic or Labour Party background – the trumpetting hoard of over-aged elephants suddenly coming out into the wild from their protective enlosures.There’s a good reason for critics of Sarazin books to rely on their gut feelings instead of reason. Apart from a few paragraphs of simple text, most of the book is heavy reading. You need to have a well over-average IQ and a considerable knowledge of the scientific literature on macro-and welfare economics, policical, sociological and cultural science, scientific methods and techniques, and logic, to fully comprehend his tstaeire. You should be familiar with Rawls and Sen and a few other political philiosphers. Far from being a populist, Sarrazin is an intellectual elitist. As the German population has been – in terms of IQ-level – rapidly in decline over the past twenty years, his proper audience will be limited. There are now over half a million copies sold, but – unfortunately – for reasons that you may understand by reading the book, only 10% of these buyers (but most of the Jewish readers)will be able to intellectually consume it. German Imams have to wait for instructions from Saudi-Arabia or Cairo and that may take some time.One may wonder why the SPD was so quick to decide that Sarrazin should be expelled from this party. Is this sheer stupidity or is there some good reason for this. From what I learned over the years from some German friends close to some of its leaders or at least to their way of thinking, I am inclined to think that Sarrazin’ rise is in fact welcomed as a fortunate event in a time of misery and despair.Since the Leftparty robbed the SPD of 10% of its voters it has become clear that the SPD never will be able to return in power, unless a drastic change in the political landscape.The real threat of Sarrazin for the SPD was and is that he would eat up another 10% or more of the SPD-left, those unwilling to deal with the consequences of Sarrazins study for the social-democartic policy-making process and its legitimation. By throwing hom overboard, and branding him as a reactionary right-winger, if not a resurrected brownie, he could become for the CDU-CSU what the Leftparty is for the SPD, a death digger for the present electoral supremacy of the traditional right in German politics.The concerted actions of SPD-oriented commentators in German newspapers can only be read as political spin, meant to create a virtual but evil public figure, called ‘Sarrazin’ who has little in common with Thilo Sarrazin, the author of that very important book on the rapid decline of that civilized Germany.That the real Sarrazin -as is well known by his former SPD colleagues – will never consider any role in a new political party, to the right of the CDU-CSU is irrelevant. There are enough ambitious yet hardly known populist politicians in Germany who will seriously consider to ride the tide of this time irrespective of Sarrazin’s actual message. In a way all this is very similar to the present state of the political scene in the Netherlands, or, since this week, in Norway.Ad Teulingsprofessor emeritus, University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Political and Socio-Cultural Sciences.