Hi there, I’m Alex. I thought I would write a post to tell you all a bit about myself, both as your Green candidate and as a person.

I’m 20, the youngest of three and I’ve called Colchester home my entire life. I attended St Helena Secondary and then Colchester Sixth Form, where I did history and environmental science. (I decided uni wasn’t for me.) Now I work as a carer in a nursing home, and while it is very hard work and very stressful at times, I enjoy it a lot and find it so fulfilling to help those who need it most. I also find a lot of joy in baking, dressing up, dying my hair all sorts of bright colours, painting, reading, gaming, my friends and cats. Cats are my favourite animal, I adore my two black and white ones!

I found myself drawn to politics very naturally as an autistic person with an incredibly strong sense of justice and the habit of questioning why everything is the way it is. I was 10 during the Brexit referendum and it’s when I first became aware of politics, of how divisive it was but also how important it was. From there, I slowly learnt about myself, that I was bisexual, non-binary and autistic, and that those things had to matter in politics as many politicians both here and around the world attempt to use people like me to scare others into voting for them. This is the same as how they use immigrants and refugees to direct people’s righteous anger at the wrong target, at their fellow workers and community members, instead of the rich and the corporations who want to take advantage of us all.

There were two moments that I found vital in driving me towards finally getting involved directly in politics, rather than just voting and posting things online in support of

The Greens. The first came in 2021 and 2022 with Partygate, where the politicians who were meant to be representing us all, blatantly broke the law, completely ignoring the COVID-19 restrictions that they had put in place. These restrictions, which while necessary, stole so much from many of us. For many, this was time with loved ones, chances to get away from toxic households and, as it was for me, a chance to say goodbye to people we lost. The second moment came earlier this year, watching the way the Labour Government we had all celebrated as a breath of fresh air after 14 years of Tory rule completely ignored the genocide of Palestinians. Regardless of how much people protested, how militant or peaceful they were, this Government didn’t care for our thoughts on the fact that we were still selling weapons to Israel, the weapons used to kill innocent civilians for the crime of existing. This was when I finally joined the Greens officially, as we are the only party that openly and unafraid call for a free Palestine, an end to the Israeli occupation and genocide. Ever since then, I’ve been heavily involved in the local party, helping with leafletting, making our website more accessible, increasing our online presence and creating posters.

As your Green candidate, I care deeply for our local community and everyone in it. My greatest passion lies in making politics more accessible to everyone, so I can not only represent you, but also so you can represent yourselves too! Far too many people still think politics is just for students, the wealthy and the highly educated when it’s really for everyone because it impacts everyone.  The phrase ‘I don’t do politics’ always makes me cringe because politics will do you regardless and the best thing you can do is act, to get directly involved in creating the world you want to live in and pass down to the next generation. If I can get even one more person involved in politics, get one more person doing something to make our world better, I know all my work will have been worth it.

Never forget that you can be part of the change you want to see. The world isn’t kind, therefore I will be!