“Mawtini” (homeland) anthem sung in Nelson Mandela Square for the 2nd year running
Ramallah, Palestine 09/11/2016
A huge crowd gathered at Nelson Mandela Square, in the Tyra neighbourhoood of Ramallah, to sing the popular song “Mawtini” (my homeland) for the second year running.
The activists chose Mandela Square for the gathering for its symbolic significance of Mandela’s struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
Mawtini is a popular poem originally written by the Palestinian poet Ibrahim Tuqan c. 1934. It is also Iraq’s national anthem, but the lyrics – sung by several Arab artists across the board, capture the emotions of pride, as well as of loss, of a homeland that are easily mirrored across the Middle East.