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

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. One of his hobbies includes psychoanalysis and the psychoanalysis of his friends and colleagues. He also speaks frequently about the collective unconsciousness and Jungian archetypes and their relationship to political leaders. He frequently identifies George W Bush as being the Shadow archetype.

Andrew In The News

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.

One of Andrew's comrades in the Ottawa branch of the IWW is Jane Scharf who is currently running for mayor of Ottawa in the 2006 municipal election.

Panhandlers Union

The Panhandlers Union was born in early 2003. It is a shop of the Industrial Workers of the World, Ottawa-Outaouis General Members Board. Andrew is the lead organizer of the union and its current IWW delegate and spokesperson.

The union is not a conventional labour union in the sense that its purpose is not to bargain with a third party for a collective contract and higher wages. This misconception has led to a great deal of ridicule including an attack against the group by the Ottawa Citizen which asked what the panhanders were fighting for -- "wider sidewalks?" The union had a chance to respond to these accusations with their own op-ed piece, "Why Panhandlers Need a Union" which appeared in the newspaper on March 20th 2006. The editorial was a collaborative piece written by several members of the IWW. It was credited to panhandler Proshanto Smith.

The purpose of the union is intended to bring together panhandlers, street artsists, buskers and any other "street-affected" person to lobby city hall for individual rights and reverse the laws which the city of Ottawa has passed. The union has continually stressed that its aim is to create an "entrepreneurially spirit" which aims to have panhanders sell arts and crafts, books, compact discs or other donated material for money which they will use to support themselves.

The creation of the Panhandlers Union has encouraged other activists and members of the IWW to create their own unions for special groups which included the creation of a Transit Riders Union in Ottawa.

On May 1st 2006 Andrew, with the coordination and support of the Ottawa branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, organized a May Day protest by the panhandler's union to shut down Rideau Street. The action shut down Rideau Street in front of the Rideau Centre for more than one hour and was completely peaceful. The action targetted the Rideau Centre because of incidents of violence against homeless youth by mall security. The direct action also targetted the Safe Streets Act which the Panhandler's Union has criticized for being Draconian legislature which unfairly targets the poor. It also targetted a by-law passed by Ottawa City Hall which outlawed selling newspapers on street corners . Panhandlers and the homeless in Ottawa had been selling the alternative, Halifax-based Dominion Newspaper. New laws which came into effect on May 1st restricted this action.

A June 1st 2006 protest included a mass panhandle. It protested a law pass by Ottawa city hall which banned the vending of arts and crafts and the distribution of newspapers by the poor. The media picked up quotes by Nellis and the Panhandlers Union for that day's events -- "Ottawa's homeless say they will disrupt business in this city if business insists on disrupting our business".

Leaflet from the June 1st protest

Laws and the Panhandlers Union

By-Law No. 2005 - 358:

This is a by-law which was passed by Ottawa city hall which restricts vending on "highways". Highway in this case is a misnomer as the law in this case defines "highway" as a common and public highway, and includes any bridge, trestle, viaduct, or other structure forming part of the highway and, except as otherwise provided, includes a portion of a highway.

The by-law was passed August 24th 2005 without any public consultation.

The law prohibits selling of arts and crafts, flowers, street newspapers as well as prohibiting busking and street theatre.

Safe Strets Act:

The Safe Streets Act was a law passed by the former Conservative government of Mike Harris in 1999. It applies to all of Ontario. The act aims to stop "aggressive" panhandling but the law is purposely vague in what it defines as "aggressive" panhandling. The law states that "aggressive" means "a manner that is likely to cause a reasonable person to be concerned for his or her safety or security." This is vague because not all people may feel threatened by the same situations. Some "reasonable" people feel threatened by merely being solicited by a panhandler for spare change while others have no problem with stopping to give a panhandler money. In effect the Safe Streets Act aims not to curb aggressive panhandling but to eliminate all panhandling whether it is aggressive or passive.

In Ottawa the only way that panhandlers in the Panhandlers Union have been able to respond to harassment by the Ottawa Police is by keeping a copy of the Safe Street Act and showing it to police to prove they are not in violation of the law. Nevertheless, panhandlers find themselves in the ridiculous situation of having to pay tickets for panhandling which they cannot afford.

Furthermore, the act does not apply to charities which solicit people for money. This is particularly true of the Shineramacampaign held every fall by university students which raises money for cystic fibrosis. The fact that charities are allowed to solicit for money on medians and on sidewalks shows the inherent classism of the Safe Streets Act.

It is not unusual for panhanders in Ottawa to have dozens of tickets because of the Safe Streets Act. The solution to this problem was the creation of the Ticket Defence Program whereby social activists attempt to have fines against panhandlers dropped. The program has been largely successful in the cities where it has been implemented.

Personal life

Andrew identifies his religion as Buddhist, but he tends to call himself an Anarcho-Mystic.

During his leisure time, Andrew can be found chatting on IRC (Internet Relay Chat). One IRC network he is known to frequent is Dalnet where he uses the nickname PoisonPen. One of the channels he frequents is an anarchist community channel called #Politicssucks. The channel operates by consensus and is a prototype for the type of anarchist community Andrew would want to live in. Although this channel claims to operate in an open, anarchist fashion, based on spontaneous consensus, etc., the necessarily authoritarian structure of channel registration dictates that he commands final say in all matters of channel administration and has exiled a number of users without any consensus. These actions do not reflect any normal definition of anarchism, and have caused many users to label him a fascist.

Personal Quotes

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."

External links

Andrew's blog

Complete List of Andrew's quotes

Ottawa Outaouais IWW Membership Branch

Ottawa X-Press article on Panhandlers Union

By-law of the City of Ottawa regarding vendors on highways

References

• Ottawa Citizen: Why Panhandlers Need a Union
• [Hpn Ottawa's Homeless Issue a Warning]
• Ticket Defence Program (Ottawa)
• Ottawa Says "Move Along" to Homeless Entrepreneurs
• [Action-forum Mayday-Voices from the Street]