Ian Cohen - Biography

Ian Cohen (born 5 June 1951) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1995 to 2011, for The Greens. He joined The Greens in 1984.

Personal profile

After attending Fort Street High School Cohen attended and graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Arts (BA), and later he earned a Graduate Diploma in Education (DipEd). He is an environmental and social change activist and "has fostered a specific interest in the concept of theatre of the environment as an educational and community empowerment technique".

Community activity

Cohen has organised and participated in many major environmental campaigns in Australia during the 1980s: Nightcap rainforests in Northern NSW, Franklin River, Daintree, South East forests NSW, North Washpool and Chaelundi. He has also participated in anti-nuclear campaigns including those at the Honeymoon and Roxby Downs uranium mines. Cohen's involvement in such campaigns was characterised by radical, front-line protest action; in the Franklin River Dam protest, for example, he opposed The Wilderness Society's decision to halt the up-river blockade in the period between the election of the anti-Dam Federal Labor government and the Australian High Court decision that ultimately saved the river.

Cohen was a founder of the Sydney Peace Squadron and the Brisbane Peace and Environment fleet and came to international attention in 1986 when photographed on a surfboard, while clinging to the bow of the destroyer USS Oldendorf (DD-972), as she pulled into Sydney Harbour to participate in the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy. He was reported on ABC news as stating of the incident: "I think we sent a really strong message to the powers that be at that stage of the Cold War that there were Australians who objected strongly in a non-violent manner to the entry of nuclear warships into Sydney Harbour."

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External links

• Ian Cohen MLC
• Anti-nuclear activists in sea protest