Help Tim Get Even with the State.
I need your support to help Tim Speers pay his £2k fines for raising the alarm on the Climate and Ecological Emergency.
Tim is one of the most dedicated activists I know. He has committed his life to raising the alarm on the climate and ecological emergency. Tim is a reliable, passionate, and unwavering person who is always the first to step forward to make things happen. Tim volunteers for both Animal Rebellion and Extinction Rebellion, giving his time to the arts factory and repeatedly putting himself forward to take action that risks arrest.
Since 2019 he has accumulated £2108 in court costs and fines which he has slowly been paying off with his universal credit allowance. Universal credit can take up to 25% off from Tim’s standard allowance (the living expenses after housing costs have been deducted) meaning that his lifestyle has had to dramatically change in order to enable him to continue to live in London and dedicate his time to the movement.
This was all tickling along, with the state funding its own demise until March of this year when Tim was unexpectedly imprisoned for shutting down an Elbit arms factory . He was released after 2 weeks but still has a tag on him, leaving him under house arrest between 12AM and 8PM for the foreseeable future. Once in prison his Universal Credit allowance was cancelled and has still not been restarted. He has found himself in a bureaucratic sinkhole; indebted to the state for his actions and left with no living allowance.
What the hell has he been doing to wind up with all that debt anyways?!
In April 2019, as part of the largest campaign of civil disobedience for the climate that the UK has ever seen Tim sat down in the road at Parliament Square calling on the Government to Act Now. Shortly after these actions Parliament declared a climate emergency, but in despite of this Tim was found guilty of Obstruct Highway and ordered to pay £400.
In September 2019 Tim spray painted “ANIMAL EMERGENCY = CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY” on the entrance of the Old Baily. Tim pleaded not guilty on the charge of criminal damage, but the Judge said that his actions could not be seen as necessary as there was “no immediate threat to life” This did not resonate with Tim, who, on his way out decided to spray “NO IMMEDIATE THREAT” upon the courthouse. For these acts of civil disobedience he was found guilty of criminal damage, and was ordered to pay £1047 and £350 respectively.
Tim is not always found guilty! In 2019 he disrupted an Arla dairy factory in North London by climbing a milk silo costing Arla £87,000 in earnings. In this instance the charge of Aggravated Trespass was dropped!
In September 2020 Tim was part of the Broxbourne Press Action which prevented millions of newspapers from reaching their readers sparking a national debate about freedom of the press and shining a light on the failure of the press to report the truth on the climate and ecological emergency. For this action he was fined £384.
Let’s be honest, he’s done the hard bit. Now let’s spread the load and pay off these lousy fines!
Further Information:
This Crowdfunder has been started by me, Indigo, Tim’s housemate and friend.
XR pays legal fees but not court costs or fines.
Tim has never received VLE.
Until now Tim has never received any donations to cover his costs.
