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Tim Gee

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Tim Gee
Born
Stockport, United Kingdom
EducationUniversity of Edinburgh

Tim Gee is the general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation, the international organisation of Quakers worldwide. He is also a writer and faith-based activist in the United Kingdom, who popularised the concept of counterpower, and has written about pacifism and the Occupy movement.

Personal life

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Early life

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Gee was born in Stockport, United Kingdom in the mid-1980s.[1]

Education

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Gee attended Aquinas College, Stockport,[2] a Roman Catholic sixth form college in Stockport, United Kingdom. During this time he was actively involved in the campaign against the Iraq War.[3]

He went on to study politics at the University of Edinburgh where he graduated with an MA degree in 2009[4][5] While at the university he was a part of its People and Planet group, promoting Fairtrade,[6] and was elected the Vice President (Services) of the Edinburgh University Students Association. In 2005 he was elected to the Board of Directors of NUS Services Ltd.[5]

Writing career

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Gee's first book, Counterpower: Making Change Happen was published in 2011,[7] in which he puts forward a theory of how governments and elite groups exercise power, and argues that others can use counterpower to counter this.[8] He puts forward a model in which this counterpower is splits into three categories: idea counterpower, economic counterpower, and physical counterpower. Counterpower was shortlisted for the Bread and Roses Award in 2012.[9]

His second book, You Can't Evict an Idea: What Can We Learn From Occupy? was published in 2013[10] as an e-book and in physical form.[11]

His third book is Why I am a Pacifist, published by the Christian Alternative imprint from John Hunt publishers.[12]

Gee has also published in the New Internationalist,[4] Scottish Left Review[13] and writes a blog for The Guardian[14]

Gee was amongst a group of prominent authors and writers who campaigned against a ban on sending books to prisoners in the United Kingdom[15]

Gee documented the buildup to the eviction of the Calais Jungle refugee camp in 2016 for The Tablet, as the Writer in Residence at the Maria Skobtsova Catholic Worker House.[16]

Political experience

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Student politics

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Gee was the Vice President Services (VPS) of Edinburgh University Students Association. He sat on the board of the National Union of Students' commercial arm, NUSSL.[17] He seconded a motion for the University of Edinburgh to revoke the honorary degree it had bestowed on Robert Mugabe,[17] and was involved in the campaign for the University to become a Fairtrade University.[18]

Superglue Three

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In 2010, Gee was part of a group, dubbed The Superglue Three,[19] accused of committing a breach of the peace at a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh by gluing themselves to each other and the entrance door of the premises.[20][21] Gee was admonished of a breach of the peace, with no financial penalty[19]

In a statement originally published in The Scotsman, Gee linked his action with the Royal Bank of Scotland's financing of tar sands extraction in Alberta, Canada, and stated that as 84% of the Royal Bank of Scotland was at that time publicly owned, UK tax payers should have a say in what projects are funded.[22] Responding to this, Andrew Cave, Head of Group Sustainability at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said that he and Gee agreed on a number of points, including that the Royal Bank of Scotland needs to be more accountable and that society should transition to a low-carbon economy: however he said they disagreed on how this should happen.[23]

Bond (British Overseas NGOs for Development)

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Gee worked for Bond (for international development) as Campaigns Communications Officer, co-ordinating the 2009 Put People First campaign and 2008 Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty and Inequality campaign.[24]

Faith-based campaigning on climate action

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In 2015, moving from political campaigning to faith-based activism, Gee was the Campaign Strategy Lead at the UK Christian development organisation, Christian Aid,[25] where he was part of the faith-based organising team working together with Muslims and Jews for action on climate change.[26]

In 2016, Gee led the Big Church Switch, encouraging British churches to switch to a renewable energy provider.[27][28][29]

Religious views

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Gee is a Quaker, and in 2011 appeared on a poster advertising the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain.[30] Gee delivered prepared ministry on the subject of "movement building" to Britain Yearly Meeting, the national annual meeting of Quakers in Britain, in 2016.[31] Gee built on this further when he was invited by the George Gorman Memorial Fund[1] to deliver the George Gorman Lecture at Britain Yearly Meeting in 2017, exploring themes of power, diversity, and the spiritual root of political action within the Religious Society of Friends.[32][33][34][35] He has been involved in promoting Britain Yearly Meeting's Sanctuary Everywhere programme in response to forced migration.[36][37][38][39][40]

Bibliography

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Books

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Gee, T (2011) Counterpower: making change happen New Internationalist Publishing: Oxford, UK [2]

Gee, T (2013) You can't evict an idea: What can we learn from Occupy? Housmans: London, UK [3]

Gee, T (2019) Why I am a Pacifist: A call for a more nonviolent world. John Hunt: London, UK[12]

Gee, T (2022) "Open for Liberation - an activist reads the bible"

Chapters

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Gee, T (2012) The children of the children of the revolution. In: Coatman, C. & Shrubsole, G. [Ed] Regeneration Lawrence & Wisehart: London, UK 109-116 [4]

Articles

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Gee, T (2008) Is Poverty History Yet? Scottish Left Review (47) 20-21 [5]

Gee, T (2008) Will Red and Green Ever be Seen? Scottish Left Review (46) 18-19 [6]

Gee, T (2013) You cannot be free if you are poor Peace News (2562) [7]

Gee, T (2013) The battle for Mandela's legacy is only beginning The Independent 3 July 2013 [8]

Gee, T (2014) Yasuni: a cautionary tale New Internationalist (471) 38-40 [9]

Film

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Tim produced the film "Marikana's Precious Metal", a 2018 film marking the sixth anniversary of the South African Marikana massacre, when striking mine workers were fired on by security forces. Seventeen workers died.

References

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  1. ^ Williams, Andrew (28 November 2011). "Social change sometimes happens in unpredictable ways". The Mancunion.
  2. ^ Justice and Peace Commissions of the dioceses of Shrewsbury and Liverpool. Thompson, Marian (ed.). "Counterpower - Making Change Happen" (PDF). Mouth and Peace (76). Manchester: 12.
  3. ^ Sinclair, Ian. "The march that shook Blair: 10 years on". ZCommunications. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Tim Gee". New Internationalist.
  5. ^ a b McCracken, Edd (2014). "Forging the Fairtrade way". Edit: The Alumni Magazine of the University of Edinburgh (Summer 2014). Edinburgh: 8–11.
  6. ^ "Edinburgh Uni P&P have marked Fairtrade Fortnight by launching a You Tube video to inspire more Fairtrade universities". People and Planet. 27 February 2007. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  7. ^ Gee, Tim (2011). Counter power : making change happen. Oxford: World Changing. ISBN 978-1780260327.
  8. ^ Newton, Mark (17 November 2011). "Counterpower: Making Change Happen (book review)". The Ecologist.
  9. ^ Flood, Alison (6 March 2012). "New prize for radical writing announces shortlist". The Guardian.
  10. ^ Gee, Tim (2013). You can't evict an idea: What can we learn from Occupy?. London: Housmans Books. ISBN 9780852832745.
  11. ^ ""You can't evict an idea" by Tim Gee". Housman's Books.
  12. ^ a b GEE, TIM. (2019). WHY I AM A PACIFIST a call for a more nonviolent world. [S.l.]: CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE. ISBN 9781789040173. OCLC 1113411120.
  13. ^ Gee, Tim (2008). "Is Poverty History Yet?". Scottish Left Review. 47: 20–21.
  14. ^ "Tim Gee | the Guardian". The Guardian.
  15. ^ "Prominent British writers campaign against ban on books for prisoners". 26 March 2014.
  16. ^ Gee, Tim (21 October 2016). "A walk through the Calais Jungle - how humanity is surviving against the odds". The Tablet.
  17. ^ a b Gee, Tim. "Tim Gee for VPS".[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ "University gets top marks to retain Fairtrade status". The Scotsman. 4 August 2006.
  19. ^ a b "'Superglue 3' admonished for RBS demo". The Scotsman. 17 February 2011.
  20. ^ "Climate change protesters appear in Edinburgh court". BBC News. 24 August 2010.
  21. ^ "Court told of RBS glue protest". The Scotsman. 28 January 2011.
  22. ^ Gee, Tim. "Why I superglued myself to the Royal Bank of Scotland". Bright Green Scotland.
  23. ^ Cave, Andrew (1 September 2010). "RBS has much in common with protesters". The Scotsman.
  24. ^ "Sheila McKechnie Foundation: Judges - Global Action". Archived from the original on 19 December 2010.
  25. ^ "Faith in Politics Programme" (PDF). Christian Aid. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  26. ^ "Jews, Muslims and Christians stand shoulder to shoulder in call for climate action - Christian Aid". www.christianaid.org.uk. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  27. ^ Harvey, Chelsea (10 February 2016). "What these Christians are giving up for Lent: Fossil fuels". Washington Post.
  28. ^ Gee, Tim (19 April 2016). "Protecting God's Creation: churches commit to the green energy transition". The Ecologist.
  29. ^ Clark, Pilita (1 September 2016). "Churches put their faith in green energy". Financial Times.
  30. ^ Gee, Tim (5 October 2012). "Making peace a way of life". New Internationalist.
  31. ^ Gee, Tim. "Movement Building". Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
  32. ^ Smallman, Elinor (10 August 2017). "The George Gorman Lecture: Movement building from stillness". The Friend.
  33. ^ Quakers in Britain (2 August 2017). "Gorman Lecture given by Tim Gee at Yearly Meeting Gathering 2017". Vimeo.
  34. ^ Hall, Laurence (October 2017). "Movement Building from Stillness" (PDF). The Young Quaker. No. 16. p. 10.
  35. ^ "Memorial Lecture". The George Gorman Memorial Fund.
  36. ^ Gee, Tim. "Why it is time to build a culture of sanctuary". Quakers. Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
  37. ^ Gee, Tim. "Why rejecting a person seeking sanctuary is a rejection of Christian values". Quakers.
  38. ^ "Should Bath Quakers become a Sanctuary Meeting?". Bath Quaker Meeting. 23 August 2017.
  39. ^ "Being a sanctuary meeting East Cheshire Quakers". eastcheshirequakers.org.uk.
  40. ^ "Quaker Week meeting: Creating Sanctuary" (PDF). Stratford-upon-Avon Quakers Newsletter. August 2017. pp. 1–2.