Alex Rush

Young Activist

Alex Rush is a 15 year old from Rochdale. He believes the media negatively stereotypes young working class lads like him but he’s passionate about making positive change in his community. Alex has spent the last two years being a young activist with Manchester-based Reclaim, a youth leadership and social change organisation that supports working-class young people. He is passionate about reducing the amount of homelessness in Rochdale, reducing racism and bringing the community together and allowing young people to be heard within politics. He would love for the voting age to be lowered! Alex is extremely creative and loves music, especially bands like Oasis and rappers like Dave and 2pac. Alex loves to change negatives into positives and spread awareness about making change through his love of music, rapping and delivering speeches.

The Indispensables- working class heroes of the pandemic

Alex will share what it means to be working class to him. The pandemic affected people in different ways, and Alex will describe how it has impacted him as a working class young person. Alex’s parents are both key workers, working on the frontline. His dad worked in a wholesale supermarket while the rest of the country locked down. But has enough been done to ensure that key workers, like Alex’s parents, are seen as the indispensable workforce they are?