I think this phenomenon is very interesting, but whether or not cultural awakening would go hand in hand with left-wing politics is pretty much up in the air, I think. It can very well lead to--if it hasn't already--a creation of heritage industries capitalizing on nostalgia and reaction against assimilationism, and nothing more. And Jeffrey Schanzer's comment on the lack of social basis supporting a mix of radical politics and cultural revival on a large scale is to the point.
That said, I find Tony Kushner's work very stimulating as an sign of what _can_ be done if cultural projects do go together with left politcs (though Kushner's politics isn't, alas, very left).
Jeffrey Schanzer wrote in reply to Lou:
>As both a Jewish artist and communist, I wanted to throw in a few words on
>Proyect's comments on the Jewish cultural and political scene.
>
>My band has performed on one of John Zorn's "Radical Jewish Culture"
>Festivals at the Knitting Factory. And in case anyone wants to romanticize
>the Knit, it is run by a typically scummy club owner (Jewish to boot), who
>happens to be a bit more hip than many of the other club owners in town.
>
>I think what Zorn is doing, and the revival of Klezmer music is a fine
>thing. However, Proyect romanticizes this cultural trend and the supposed
>political awakening among younger Jews that goes along with it. Another
>element of what is going on in this current is the revival of Yiddish and
>Yiddish art forms.
About John Zorn as an individual artist, I have much reservations, however. In my view, he typifies the avant-garde tendency to use the 'ethnic' forms or themes as mere flavors, totally divorced from anything social or political. (Before turning to his Jewish heritage, he thrived on sexist uses of Orientalist themes--yikes!)
So I think that we can only discuss what interest in a given ethnic culture means on the basis of examination of its concrete instances.
Yoshie