James Petras

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James Petras at an Axis for Peace event

James Petras, a retired Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, SUNY, New York, USA, and adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a self-described "revolutionary and anti-imperialist" activist and writer. He has worked with the Brazilian landless workers’ movement and the unemployed workers’ movement in Argentina. He is currently a member of the editorial collective of Canadian Dimension. Petras is the author of numerous books and articles and contributes to Counterpunch.

He earned a BA from Boston University and an MA, and later a PhD (1967) from the University of California, Berkeley. His initial appointment at Binghamton was in 1972 at the sociology Department and his field is listed as: Development, Latin America, the Caribbean, revolutionary movements, class analysis.[1]

In November 2006, leftist rebels in Colombia addressed a letter concerning hostage negotitations to American film stars, the Reverened Jesse Jackson and leftist intellectuals Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, and James Petras.[2]

1 Views and Controversies
- 1.1 Power of Israel in the United States
2 Selected Bibliography
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Views and Controversies

[edit] Power of Israel in the United States

Petras has put his views in a book on this topic. He puts forth the thesis that American Jewry are 25-30% of U.S.'s wealthiest families (citing Forbes) and wield their wealth effectively. As an example(citing Richard Cohen in the Washington Post) -- supplying 60% and 35% of the total contributions respectively of the American Democratic and Republican political parties. Petras maintains that little public discussion is allowed about this financial power.

Petras maintains that this influence in the Unites States affects Israel and Middle East Warfare. Petras has the view that Israel has engaged in ongoing military adventures with U.S. support and he has the view that these actions are contrary to U.S. national interest and are inexplicable without the Lobby connection. He repeats the analysis that neoconservatives embroiled America into the Iraq War under pretextural reasons to further greater Israel's interest. He further notes that pro-Israel neoconservative hawks are now urging war with Iran. He coins a new term -"Zioncon."

Petras analyzes the Global War or Terror as overblown and a way to mischaracterize resistance movements as "terrorists" and delegitimitize them.

Petras engages in an eight part analysis of Noam Chomskys criticsm on the "Lobby." He disagrees with Chomsky.

[edit] Selected Bibliography

The Power of Israel in the United States. (Paperback) (2006) ISBN 0-932863-51-5

- details Petras' view of the role of the Israeli Lobby plays in the United States foreign policy.
Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, with Henry Veltmeyer (2005)
Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st Century, with Henry Veltmeyer (2001)
The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America, with Henry Veltmeyer (2000)
Empire or Republic: Global Power or Domestic Decay in the US, with Morris Morley (1995),
Latin America in the Time of Cholera: Electoral Politics, Market Economics, and Permanent Crisis, with Morris Morley (1992)

- a collection of James Petras essays (in English)