SACP dips its red flag in honour of revolutionary Assata Shakur, an endless shining light to current and future generations of liberation fighters

[SACP Communications]

South African Communist Party

SACP dips its red flag in honour of revolutionary Assata Shakur, an endless shining light to current and future generations of liberation fighters

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”

Saturday, 27 September 2025: - The South African Communist Party (SACP) dips its red flag in honour of world celebrated revolutionary Assata Olugbala Shakur who breathed her last on Thursday 25 September in Havana, Cuba, at the age of 78.

The SACP conveys its deepest message of condolences to Assata Shakur’s family, particularly her daughter Kakuya Shakur, for the loss. The SACP also conveys its message to the Cuban people, who took it upon themselves to protect her from the imperialist United States regime since 1984 when she fled persecution, as well as the worldwide progressive movement.

Shakur and her comrades’ struggle for justice in the United States helped to galvanise the working class, with Black people being the most impacted by United States segregation policies and culture, into a united struggle for justice and peace. From being branded the “most wanted” by the American FBI, Shakur went on to carve her way to be among the most inspirational revolutionaries of the 20^th and 21^st centuries upon whom future generations will look up to in the fight for a just world.

Growing up in the United States during a difficult period of racial segregation, Assata Shakur fought gallantly for racial and gender equality, joining the Black Panther Party and later the Black Liberation Army, a Marxist-Leninist group which fought for Black freedom. No sooner had Shakur grasped the core of the United States question did she fully understand that the issue at the core of racial segregation was, as she proclaimed, not the white people, but the capitalistic, imperialistic oppressors.

Keen on pinning any manner of crime on her and her comrades, and thus repressing the revolutionary momentum, from 1971 to 1973 the imperialist United States regime piled criminal charges on them, from robbery to murder, all of which were thrown out of court for want of evidence. During these trials, not only was Shakur treated to cruel and detestable conduct by the United States criminal justice system. Her legal defence team was also subjected to similar mistreatment. In legal consultations with her, her lawyers were often stripped naked and forced to undergo body searches before consulting with her, and in turn she was consistently shackled to a bed on both ankles during consultations with her lawyers.

The United States repressive state machinery did not respect her right to legal representation and justice. Ultimately, the all-white jury convicted her in the bizarre charge of murder when she had been shot by the very police officers while her hands were raised to comply with their demand.

Those assaults on her right to freedom and dignity were preceded by her 1967 arrest as a student activist together with her fellow student activists who demanded Black students’ right to education.

As the African people continue to wage the fight against imperialism, for their liberation, and as the working class and justice loving people across the world engage in battle for the liberation of the Palestinian people from the settler apartheid Israeli regime, we remain inspired by Assata Shakur’s iconic words:

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”

Assata Shakur remains an ever-shining inspirational torch to many across the world on the quest for freedom and justice. She is a shining symbol of resistance against all forms of repression, for the relentless struggle towards global freedom for all oppressed peoples.

In paying tribute to Assata Shakur, the SACP will continue to wage the working-class liberation struggle for socialism while at the same time uniting with progressive forces across the globe towards the defeat of imperialism. The SACP calls for the unity of the working class in the fight for a just world, including the rights of women, who are most impacted by imperialism.