Andrew Nellis

Andrew Nellis (born February 23, 1969) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a Canadian anarcho-syndicalist, writer, CG artist, and an organizer with the Industrial Workers of the World. He advocates the dissolution of all present forms of government through direct action and the introduction of anarchist ideals. He is an alumnus of Lisgar Collegiate and Algonquin College. He currently lives in the Vanier neighbourhood of Ottawa.

Heroes and Influences[edit]

Andrew has many heroes from many differing fields of thought including psychology, philosophy, politics.

One of his political heroes is Nestor Makhno, a Ukranian anarchist who raised an army and fought against the Bolshevik Red Army between 1918 and 1919.

He also admires Henry David Thoreau and believes strongly in the tactic of civil disobedience.

In the field of psychology Andrew admires both Sigmund Freud and Karl Jung.

Andrew In The News[edit]

Andrew has appeared on various talk shows and news segments, generally on radio, with a few appearances on television. His television appearances included one on Rogers Community Television 22 in Ottawa and a segment on the CHRO news. Andrew has spoken on both of Ottawa's university's radio stations: CKCU and CHUO.

On July 22nd 2005 Andrew was featured on the cover of the Ottawa Metro, a free daily newspaper available in Ottawa. The picture featured Andrew in a confrontation with a member of the Ottawa Police after Andrew had written anti-war slogans on a wall with chalk. The incident ended without arrest. The cover of the newspaper from that day can be viewed here: Andrew is confronted by the Ottawa Police

Most recently Andrew has been involved with organizing panhandlers in Ottawa, encouraging them to unionize. The Panhandlers Union is a modest success and has received coverage in the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun. The Panhandler's Union has also been mentioned as a human interest story in many of CanWest Global's other newspapers including the Winnipeg Tribune.

Jane Scharf is a former organizer for the Ottawa Panhandlers Union. She unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Ottawa in the 2006 municipal election.

Nellis was arrested May 1st 2008 while trying to cut a lock on a gate which was put up to prevent homeless people from congregating in an underpass in downtown Ottawa. Nellis' plan was to remove the lock that the city had installed and to put on his own lock which everyone would have access to. He was charged with mischief and possession of break and enter tools. These charges were eventually dropped when Nellis started mounting a human rights case against the City of Ottawa.

While at the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Detention Centre, Nellis organized inmates and got them to complain about the deplorable conditions of the prison. This resulted in a front page article in the Ottawa Citizen. Nellis was subsequently released, most likely as a result of his prison organizing campaign.

Personal Quotes[edit]

Andrew is known for his colourful rants against capitalists, Christians, conservatives and Americans. Here are just a few:

"Ayn Rand is the curdled remains of a black, bitter, shrivelled apple from the tree of hypocrisy growing under the outhouse in the deepest pit of Hell. She couldn't grope her way out of her own rectum with a flashlight and a copy of Gray's Anatomy. Her entire rancid philosophy could have been killed if anyone had been brave or desperate enough to stick their penis into that frigid arctic pucker of her twat."

"I have sworn an oath before God that I will dance on Mike Harris's grave. In the long, dark hours of the night when my hatred of Mike Harris burns like anthracite, I bank the flames which burn my heart with the knowledge that I will dance on his grave."

"The Pledge of Allegiance is a travesty of nationalist psychosis. It's no wonder America is the seething pit of hysterical, xenophobic fascism that it is."