This is for Ghanaian feminists. Of every gender and creed. Disabled and able-bodied. Gay and pansexual. Poor and rich. Hypersexual and Asexual. Religious and atheist. To all of us. I want to say Thank you. Today is not the day I tell you why intersectional Marxist Feminism is the way for us Ghanaians. No. Today is not the day I chastise some of us for being moderate. Nah. Today is the day I learn to shut up and stick to the message. Yessir. Thank you for existing.

I am often tired, I am sometimes discouraged, I experience momentary bouts of distress and hopelessness. But because I have you, I am able. From Wa to Haatso, or Columbus to Manchester your commitment to reducing suffering by addressing gender inequity is nothing short of a practical manifestation of love.

So Thank you,

For acknowledging there’s a problem;

For daring to adopt an identity so heavily maligned;

For dealing with the stigma and the devaluation that comes with the identity “feminist”;

For harboring the insults and attacks;

For being empathetic and suffering with those that patriarchy wearily consumes;

For recognizing that our destinies are inevitably bound such that we are not free if our fellow humans are not free;

For advocating for your own freedom, and seeking to overthrow your mental and existential chains;

For seeking to reform societal institutions riddled with the rancid stench of inequality;

For daring to imagine a better life for us all;

And for being gutsy enough to fuck up a system of dominance that has plagued us for centuries;

Thank you.