The Angolan Flag you see today was adopted in 1975 after Angola claimed it independence.
The flag has a split color of horizontal black and red. The red is the top and the black is the bottom. The flag has a golden star in the center with a machete and cogwheel. The cogwheel represents the industry and workers. The machete represents the peasantry.
The red color represents the blood spill when Angola was fighting for its independence and the black represents the African continent.
The National Flag is always at the top of the flagpole, flowed by the state flag, military flag and then any other flag.
The flag cannot be flown on the same flagpole with another national flag. The flag is not to drag on the ground and must be flown with the red color in the right direction, which is up top. The flag is burnt in private when it is no longer suitable to be flown. The only time that the flag is flown with the red color upside down is in a time of distress.
In 2003, a more suitable flag was presented, but it has never been adopted. The flag has a thin blue stripe and white stripe on each side of a larger red stripe in the middle with a sun design. The flag is unappealing and this may be why Angolan citizens never formally adopted it. Besides, the flag that is displayed now has more meaning to the people and represents the freedom that the people fought for.
The flag of the former movement was black and red horizontal stripes with a big yellow star in the middle. That flag is now the flag of the MPLA (Popular Movement of the Liberation of Angola). The flag is flown daily and is respected by all of the people.