Terra Lawson-Remer

Terra Lawson-Remer

Terra Lawson-Remer is a Fellow at Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. She is also "founder and managing partner" of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization-aligned Catalyst Project, "specializing in the development of innovative public policies, social change strategies, and high-impact organizations."

She was "one of hundreds arrested during the WTO riots in Seattle in 1999." In the summers of 1995, 1996, and 1997, Terra Lawson-Remer worked in the office of Congressman Juan Vargas.

Background

"Lawson-Remer served as senior advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the Obama Administration. At Treasury she worked for Undersecretary Lael Brainard, leading on emerging economies and fragile states. She joined Treasury while on leave from The New School for Social Research, where she was assistant professor of international affairs. She also founded and chaired the university’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility, implementing one of the nation’s first institutional climate change divestment policies.

"Previously she was legal and campaign director at the global advocacy organization Avaaz, legal fellow at Amnesty International, and non-resident fellow in Global Economy & Development at the Brookings Institution. Prior to that, she was fellow for Civil Society, Markets & Democracy at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she directed the Council's initiative on democratic transitions and wrote and advised on international economic law, inequality, and global development.

"Lawson-Remer began her career as an organizer, working in political campaigns, as a direct action coordinator in the global justice movement, and as co-founder and co-director of the national student organization Students Transforming And Resisting Corporations (STARC). She led campaigns to democratize the world trade organization and international financial institutions, stop the war in Iraq, and win fair contracts for farmworkers.

"She has authored numerous articles and books on fairness and sustainability within and across generations. Her research addresses property rights, poverty and inequality, international trade and investment, environmental justice, discrimination, collective action and collective ownership, extractive industries, sustainable development, ethical investing and impact investing, and human rights. The American Political Science Association awarded her most recent book, Fulfilling Economic & Social Rights (Oxford University Press), 2016 Best Book in Human Rights Scholarship. She is currently working on a project addressing fairness in the future economy, including political and policy responses to artificial intelligence and automation at the state level and nationally, and rethinking U.S. international economic policy.

"Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Economist, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Huffington Post, and CNN, among other outlets.

"A Dean’s Merit Scholar, she earned degrees in law, ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University (B.A.), New York University (Ph.D.), and New York University School of Law (J.D.).

Education

• Studied at NYU
• Studied at NYU
• Studied Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale University

Online Resume

According to Terra Lawson-Remer's online resume, she was an "Organizer, Direct Action Coordinator" for The Ruckus Society from 2001 - 2006.

Leadership Team

Flip the 49th leaders Terra Lawson-Remer & David Lagstein.

San Diego Progressive Labor Summit

San Diego Progressive Labor Summit 2018 is a one-day event, bringing together members of the San Diego Labor community with left-of-center activists and leaders to build stronger understanding, knowledge, skills, and partnerships in tackling the broader social challenges we are facing today.

It was held February 3, 2018:

General Session Speakers:

• Daraka Larimore-Hall - Labor & the Left plus Janus vs. AFSCME
• Juana Melara, Unite Here Local 11: #MeToo and the Labor Movement
• Emiliana Sparaco, SEIU 221 & Terra Lawson-Remer, Flip the 49th

Public Facebook group

Members of the San Diego Democratic Socialists of America Public Facebook group, as of March 18, 2017 included Terra Lawson-Remer .

Communist-Linked Protests in 2002

In an article posted 16 April 2002 at Newsmax (verbatim):

"Police fear that some of the protests, led by veterans of riots against the World Trade Organization, will turn violent.

[...]

"At a joint press conference Tuesday outlining their plans for the weekend, Eric LeCompte of School of the Americas Watch, which protests Pentagon links with Latin American militaries, was described as someone who has been arrested "many times.” He said his group would march on the Capitol to protest U.S. support for the war against terrorism in Colombia.

"Organizers distributed maps of downtown Washington showing how different groups of protesters would unite in the "April mobilizations” to run from Friday night through Monday. Protesters will stage "die-ins” and attempt blockades of various sites and buildings as part of their plan for "direct action.”

"Something called "Anti-Capitalist Bloc” had planned protests against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who had been scheduled to be in the nation’s capital to speak to American Israel Public Affairs Committee. However, his trip was canceled because of the Middle East crisis, and he will speak via satellite hook-up.

"In another indication of pro-Palestinian sentiment on the part of the protesters, Emad Fraitekh of Committee in Solidarity With the Palestinian People was a featured speaker at the press conference. A biography said he was "in contact” with officials of the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat.

"Fraitekh, who demanded that all aid to Israel be terminated, was said to be a journalist from the West Bank. However, he has been in the U.S. since the early 1990s writing for publications such as Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

"But the thrust of Tuesday’s news conference was more anti-American than anti-Israel. President Bush was frequently attacked and given no credit at all for directing a successful war on terrorism.

"In their search for allies, the organizers have embraced communists and their fellow travelers. A key organizer, Terra Lawson-Remer, who orchestrated the news conference, refused to disavow the involvement of Communist Party USA in what is billed as the "April 20th Mobilization” to "Stop the War.”

""I can’t speak to that,” she said when asked about CPUSA's endorsement of the protest. However, her Web site (www.unitedwemarch.org) lists not only CPUSA but several other communist, socialist and Marxist groups as endorsers of the street demonstrations.

"Other backers include National Network to End the War Against Iraq, Queers for Racial and Economic Justice, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and the Nude Forest Frolicking Party of America.

"Attempting to exploit the memory of a popular Democrat president, the press conference was supposed to have been held on the grounds of a federal memorial in honor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But Park Police moved the event outside, causing a delay of 10 minutes in getting the event under way.

"Speaking before reporters and television camera crews representing Fox News, CNN and other major media, Terra Lawson-Remer and her comrades insisted they were for freedom, "democracy" and non-violence. However, published reports identify Lawson-Remer as a Yale University student who was one of hundreds arrested during the WTO riots in Seattle in 1999.

"The other speakers were Robert Weissman of Mobilization for Global Justice and Roxanne Lawson of United We March.

"None of the speakers, in their opening remarks, condemned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. Instead, they condemned President Bush’s war on terrorism and his efforts to find, destroy or prosecute those responsible. Only later, under questioning, did they denounce anti-American terrorism.

"LeCompte insisted it was the U.S. government that was training "assassins, dictators and death squad leaders” at the School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, in Georgia. The institute trains Latin American soldiers in military affairs.

"Though many groups involved in the protests are left-wing, Marxist or even anarchist, Weissman represented the more traditionally liberal Democrat elements.

"Saying former Vice President Al Gore had given the go-ahead to attack the Bush administration on issues other than the war, Weissman, who is also co-director of Essential Action, a group founded by Ralph Nader, said he would field several hundred protesters to disrupt weekend meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

"The AFL-CIO, led by John Sweeney of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has participated in Weissman’s Mobilization for Global Justice demonstrations in the past. This time, the labor federation is keeping its distance from the controversial protests. However, DSA is backing them.

"Lawson, who denounced the "Bush policy of endless war,” is a former field researcher for Children’s Defense Fund, whose board included Hillary Clinton. She also represents "Black Voices for Peace” and the "D.C. Anti-War Network.”

"Using the FDR memorial as a prop caused some embarrassment when a reporter asked her about Roosevelt's record of interning Japanese-Americans and mobilizing the nation to win World War II.

"Lawson, who had earlier praised FDR for his commitment to "freedom, equal justice and opportunity,” agreed that he was a "problematic” historical figure responsible for a "racist” policy. She said that her associates had debated whether to even hold the event at the FDR memorial.

'Resistance to scapegoating of Muslims and Arab-Americans'

Shortly after September 11, 2001 Terra Lawson-Remer was mentioned in an article at the Democratic Socialists of America-aligned magazine “The Nation” as working toward several goals including “resistance to scapegoating of Muslims and Arab-Americans” in the wake of the attacks on the Twin Towers.