 Friends, family, comrades. Thank you all for sitting through this ceremony when I'm sure you're waiting to throw your caps and get out of here. I promise not to take up too much more of your time. Before we get down to celebrating our graduating class of 2018, there are some thanks in order for all the people who made reaching this point possible. Thank you to the lecturers and fractional members of staff for supporting our learning, pushing us to think critically, asking us to question power. We are grateful for the unique alternative perspectives you bring to the classroom and for encouraging us to find our own voices. Thank you to the administrative staff and the student advice and wellbeing team. So many of us would not have made it through without your incredible work. You are such an integral part of the SOAS community and your dedication to students empowers us throughout our time at university. Thank you to the cleaners, caterers, porters, and security staff, and to the Justice for Workers campaign, who, in August last year, won an 11-year-long struggle to be brought in-house. CHEERING You inspire resistance here at SOAS and across the country, and you remind us that the revolution begins at home. Most importantly, thank you to friends and family, parents and carers. We will never be able to quantify the love and strength you provide us with. You are the reason we first wanted to learn and to grow, and the reason we will continue to do so. One year ago, I walked across this same stage with my fellow classmates, all the friends I'd made while at university. People who had become my SOAS family were we stressed over papers and procrastinated in the JCR. Passionate and wonderful students who did not stop learning when they left the lecture theatre but took this knowledge and debate outside of the classroom and turned theory into practice, shaping campaigns that saw it to resolve structural issues both on and off campus. SOAS students, you can be incredible. It is beautiful when we come together and support each other, because ultimately, our strength stems from our solidarity. This year has taught us so many lessons about collectivism and unity. We have walked out as a community to fight against staff cuts that were to come as part of the school's restructuring. Coming together signified what I hope was care and empathy for those members of our community in particularly precarious situations. We have supported Levinia and Comfort who led a campaign to fight for a pirate of justice from SOAS for students who were denied hardship bursaries. We talk a lot about decolonizing at this university, but this campaign specifically worked to break down the barriers faced by working class and marginalized students. This campaign sparked further debates around the accessibility of higher education and the role of universities in reinforcing structural inequality within society. Our community, however, was tested during the UCU strikes. The dispute exposed rifts within the student body, particularly over what solidarity means and how it is expressed. We live in a capitalist society where we are taught to prioritize the self, but we must remember the power of the collective. What I have learned in my time at SOAS is that we cannot come together when we expect something individually in return. When our solidarity is conditional or transactional. Rather, we build solidarity in moments when we understand that we are fighting for justice towards a future full of hope and the promise of equality. So when you leave here, don't focus on a piece of paper with a number that does not represent your true value or worth. Through your time at SOAS, you have all shown that you are worth so much more than this because you have come together with others and been part of a community that values social justice, empathy, and respect. Graduating class of 2018, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve as your co-president in democracy and education. Congratulations graduates, and when you leave this hall, remember that together you have been and will continue to be strong, beautiful, and powerful. Thank you. Thank you.