Tim Gee is the general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation, the international organisation of

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

worldwide. He is also a writer and faith-based activist in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, who popularised the concept of counterpower, and has written about

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

and the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...

Personal life

Early life

Gee was born in

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

, United Kingdom in the mid-1980s.

Education

Gee attended

Aquinas College, Stockport Aquinas College is a Roman Catholic sixth form college in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The college offers a range of Level 2 and Level 3 courses including GCSEs, A-Levels, and other vocational courses such as BTECs and T-levels. ...

, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

sixth form college A sixth form college (pre-university college in Malaysia) is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 study typically for advanced post-school level qualifications such as GCE Advanced Level, A Levels, Business and Technology Edu ...

, United Kingdom. During this time he was actively involved in the campaign against the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. He went on to study politics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

where he graduated with an

MA degree A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 2009 While at the university he was a part of its People and Planet group, promoting

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement of fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa ...

, 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.

Writing career

Gee's first book, ''Counterpower: Making Change Happen'' was published in 2011, 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. 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. His second book, ''You Can't Evict an Idea: What Can We Learn From Occupy?'' was published in 2013 as an e-book and in physical form. His third book is ''Why I am a Pacifist'', published by the Christian Alternative imprint from John Hunt publishers. Gee has also published in the

New Internationalist ''New Internationalist'' (''NI'') is an international publisher and left-wing magazine based in Oxford, England, owned by a multi-stakeholder co-operative and run day to day as a worker-run co-operative with a non-hierarchical structure. Known ...

, Scottish Left Review and writes a blog for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

Gee was amongst a group of prominent authors and writers who campaigned against a ban on sending books to prisoners in the United Kingdom Gee documented the buildup to the eviction of the

Calais Jungle The Calais Jungle (known officially as Camp de la Lande) was a refugee and immigrant encampment in the vicinity of Calais, France, that existed from January 2015 to October 2016. There had been other camps known as "jungles" in previous years, ...

refugee camp in 2016 for

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic Church, Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by ...

, as the Writer in Residence at the Maria Skobtsova Catholic Worker House.

Political experience

Student politics

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. He seconded a motion for the University of Edinburgh to revoke the honorary degree it had bestowed on

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

, and was involved in the campaign for the University to become a Fairtrade University.

Superglue Three

In 2010, Gee was part of a group, dubbed The Superglue Three, accused of committing a

breach of the peace Breach of the peace or disturbing the peace is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public order England, Wales and Norther ...

at a branch of the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

in Edinburgh by gluing themselves to each other and the entrance door of the premises. Gee was admonished of a

, with no financial penalty In a statement originally published in

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

, Gee linked his action with the

's financing of

tar sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...

extraction in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, 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. Responding to this, Andrew Cave, Head of Group Sustainability at the

, 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 A low-carbon economy (LCE) is an economy which absorbs as much greenhouse gas as it emits. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mid-20th century. There are many proven ...

: however he said they disagreed on how this should happen.

Bond (British Overseas NGOs for Development)

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.

Faith-based campaigning on climate action

In 2015, moving from political campaigning to faith-based activism, Gee was the Campaign Strategy Lead at the UK Christian development organisation,

Christian Aid Christian Aid is a relief and development charity of 41 Christian (Protestant and Orthodox) churches in Great Britain and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster rel ...

, where he was part of the faith-based organising team working together with Muslims and Jews for action on climate change. In 2016, Gee led the Big Church Switch, encouraging British churches to switch to a renewable energy provider.

Religious views

Gee is a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

, and in 2011 appeared on a poster advertising the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain. Gee delivered prepared ministry on the subject of "movement building" to

Britain Yearly Meeting The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting (and, until 1995, London Yearly Meeting), is a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England, Scotland, ...

, the national annual meeting of Quakers in Britain, in 2016. Gee built on this further when he was invited by the ''George Gorman Memorial Fund

to deliver the ''George Gorman Lecture'' at

in 2017, exploring themes of power, diversity, and the spiritual root of political action within the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

. He has been involved in promoting

's ''Sanctuary Everywhere'' programme in response to forced migration.

Bibliography

Books

Gee, T (2011) ''Counterpower: making change happen'' New Internationalist Publishing: Oxford, U

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

Gee, T (2019) ''Why I am a Pacifist: A call for a more nonviolent world. John Hunt'': London, UK Gee, T (2022) "Open for Liberation - an activist reads the bible"

Chapters

Gee, T (2012) The children of the children of the revolution. In: Coatman, C. & Shrubsole, G. d''Regeneration'' Lawrence & Wisehart: London, UK 109-11

Articles

Gee, T (2008) Is Poverty History Yet? ''Scottish Left Review'' (47) 20-2

Gee, T (2008) Will Red and Green Ever be Seen? ''Scottish Left Review'' (46) 18-1

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

Gee, T (2013) The battle for Mandela's legacy is only beginning ''The Independent'' 3 July 201

Gee, T (2014) Yasuni: a cautionary tale ''New Internationalist'' (471) 38-4

Film

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gee, Tim 1980s births Living people People from Stockport Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British writers Occupy movement Pacifism Year of birth missing (living people)