Freiheitsfonds

Freiheitsfonds, or Freedom Fund, is an initiative started in December 2021 by journalist and activist Arne Semsrott. The aesthetics borrow heavily from the visual identity of the GTA series of video games. While Freiheitsfonds is also concerned with crime, it’s not about fast cars, guns, and violence, but rather about subways, buses, and missing tickets.

The initiative aims to abolish the criminal offense of fare evasion. The fund pays the fines of people who were imprisoned for transport fraud, because they weren’t able or willing to pay the fine themselves. Funded by donations from individuals, the initiative has collected more than 500,000 euros already, and used the money to free more than 500 people who were in jail solely because they couldn’t afford a ticket for public transport. As jails are very costly, this translates to savings for the German state of 5.8M euros.

The logo uses the freebie Pricedown – just like GTA – with a contour, some of the font’s interlocking alternates, and a euro symbol (€) in place of the second E, to underline the monetary aspect. “Raus aus der JVA” / “Get out of Jail” is set in Streamster, with a pink glow effect (cf. GTA Vice City). The supporting sans is Poppins. For the graphics announcing the recent Freedom Day on October 5, 2022, the designers selected Caslon-Gotisch (cf. GTA San Andreas).

From the bilingual Freedom Fund website:

Riding without a ticket is a criminal offense in Germany. Thousands of people end up in prison every year because they can’t afford a ticket for public transport. People spend up to a year in jail. Those affected are predominantly unemployed (87%), without a fixed address (15%) and suicidal (15%).

The offense was introduced by the Nazis in 1935. To this day, people are often punished more severely for riding without a ticket than, for example, people who drive drunk. Drunk driving is usually only punished as a misdemeanor.

No one should end up in jail because of a missing ticket! Therefore we demand that §265a StGB of 1935 be overturned. Riding without a ticket must be decriminalized and free use of public transport must be made possible over the long term! In addition, transport companies must stop prosecuting people who ride without a ticket. More info on the current research at FragDenStaat.

But we are not waiting for politics. The Freedom Fund initiative frees people from prison throughout Germany who are behind bars for “riding without a ticket”. And because each day of detention costs taxpayers around 150 euros per prisoner, our initiative even saves the state money.