Leve Palestina

The band was formed in Gothenburg in 1972 by George Totari (born 1946 in Nazareth), a Palestinian musician who moved to Sweden in 1967 amid the Six-Day War and became naturalized, alongside four other musicians: Palestinian percussionist Michel Kreitem (born 1946 in Jerusalem), whose family was forced to relocate to Jordan between 1948–1952, and who moved out in 1967 following his Swedish girlfriend; Swedish singer Carina Olsson; Swedish flute player Bengt Carlsson; and Swedish guitar, mandolin and oud player Mats Lundälv. The band, whose formation changed various times over the years, was active in demonstrating against the Vietnam War and South African apartheid during the 1970s. The lyrics of the song depict the harvesting of wheat and olives in Palestine and the throwing of rocks and firing of rockets at her enemies. "" invokes the socialist struggle against imperialism, calling for the downfall of Zionism and liberation of Palestine. The youth wing of the Social Democratic Party was also reported to the police for singing the song, and accused of hate speech. ==2023 revival==

of the song title accompanied by a hammer and sickle on a low wall in Høje Taastrup, Denmark In the wake of the Gaza war and the Israeli siege of Gaza, the song has seen a major revival, spreading through platforms like TikTok and Instagram and becoming a rallying anthem at protests for the Palestinian cause across Europe. The song's viral spread began with a 30-second clip of an October 2023 protest in Stockholm that one Swedish TikToker then set to the music of "". That video has now been viewed five million times. The song has been heard at protests from Jakarta to Madrid, and has been translated into languages including English, Arabic, Hindi and Indonesian. In the six months since the revival of "" in October 2023, the song has drawn renewed criticism from the Swedish government. Despite calls from Sweden's ruling party to ban or censor the song, and the direction of the police to disrupt its performance, "" continues to be sung at Swedish rallies – events where the thousands of attendees have made police action impractical. == Notes ==