Quote by Albertina Sisulu: “Freedom is not given. It is taken by the people themselves.”

This quote asserts that true freedom is not a gift bestowed by an authority, but an active accomplishment achieved through the collective effort and determination of the oppressed. It champions self-liberation and defiance against oppression.

During a period of intense state repression and widespread protests against apartheid, Sisulu's words galvanized activists, emphasizing that liberation was an active process requiring direct action and collective struggle from the oppressed.

South African anti-apartheid activist and nurse who became a leader of the United Democratic Front while her husband Walter Sisulu was imprisoned on Robben Island. She was repeatedly banned, imprisoned, and placed under house arrest by the apartheid government over decades of activism, and received the Order of Mapungubwe from the post-apartheid government.