Mitchel Cohen
Mitchel Cohen was a poet, writer, and political activist whose work consistently bridged literature, environmental struggle, and grassroots organizing. Over decades, he became a central figure in New York’s radical political and cultural landscape, combining intellectual clarity with direct action and community engagement.
He authored several influential books, including What Is Direct Action and The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup and the Politics of Pesticides, in which he examined the links between corporate power, environmental destruction, and public health. His writing also appeared widely on platforms such as CounterPunch and Covert Action Magazine, where he contributed essays marked by political urgency and analytical depth.
One of Cohen’s most significant long-term commitments was his role as volunteer coordinator of the No Spray Coalition (nospray.org), a grassroots movement in New York City that fought against the mass aerial spraying of insecticides. The campaign challenged municipal policies on public health and environmental safety, raising awareness about the long-term consequences of chemical exposure in urban life. For Cohen, environmental justice was inseparable from social justice, and activism meant both education and resistance.
Beyond environmental struggles, Mitchel Cohen was deeply involved in media and public broadcasting. He served for several years as Chair of the WBAI 99.5 FM Local Station Board, contributing to the governance of one of New York’s most important community radio stations, historically linked to progressive and independent voices.
His commitment to collective work extended to cultural and institutional spaces as well. Beginning in 2001, he supported fundraising efforts for the Center and later served on the Sixth Street Community Center board from 2022 to 2024. His involvement reflected a consistent belief in building and sustaining local infrastructures of solidarity. In April 2024, he was abruptly removed from the board—a decision that, for many of his supporters, underscored the ongoing tensions within activist and community organizations.
But reducing Mitchel Cohen to his roles and positions would miss the deeper dimension of his life. He was also a poet and intellectual whose writing carried the rhythm of lived struggle, and whose activism was inseparable from a broader vision of collective liberation. He founded and moderated the Action Greens listserv, a space dedicated to environmental and political discussion, where dialogue and organizing intersected.
Those who knew him often emphasize not only his political commitment, but also his ability to connect ideas with everyday action, and theory with lived experience. His work consistently returned to a central question: how to confront systems of power without losing the human and poetic dimension of struggle.
He leaves behind a body of work, a network of movements, and a legacy rooted in both resistance and care. As his daughter Malika wrote in a moving tribute shared on the Action Greens listserv, his life continues to resonate through the communities he helped build and the struggles he helped shape.
Mitchel Cohen’s legacy is not fixed in the past. It remains active—in the ongoing fight for environmental justice, in independent media, and in the collective effort to imagine more just and livable forms of society.
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