"We Will Not Surrender (We Win or We Die)" is a song by Libyan-Irish musician Rami El-Kaleh about the

Libyan Civil War Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

. The song has become one of the most popular

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

s in the

Arab World The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

and in Europe. The lyrics are co-written by Rami El-Kaleh who was born on 16 July 1983 in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, Ireland, but who had returned to Libya at a young age. El-Kaleh was also a computer engineering graduate and a guitar musician. He died before seeing his song launched and for that the single serves as a memorial to him. He held dual Libyan-Irish citizenship. The title and opening words of the song are quotes taken from a speech by

Omar Mukhtar ʿUmar al-Mukhtār Muḥammad bin Farḥāt al-Manifī (; 20 August 1858 – 16 September 1931), called The Lion of the Desert, known among the colonial Italians as Matari of the Mnifa, was a Libyan revolutionary and Imam who led the native res ...

, a famous Libyan resistance fighter who fought against the Italians in the 1930s. "We will not surrender / We win or we die / Our flag will not fall down / It will wave up high forever". The song is co-authored by El-Kaleh and Jasmine "Dadoo" Icanovic, a

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

n Muslim who moved to Libya in 1992 after the

breakup of Yugoslavia After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...

. In 2000, he met Rami El-Kaleh, then an 18-year-old guitarist. Icanovic and El-Kaleh began writing the song on 4 March 2011 and finished it on 8 March. Hussain Kablan (rhythm guitarist and vocalist of Guys UnderGround) provided the vocals for the song. The song was written as a collaboration by Rami Dadoo and "friends", that being Motaz Elgaddary, Moftah Essallak and Mustafa "Boofa" Eddali, the last of which joins Dadoo's young daughter in the singing of the last few bars. All three appear in clips of the music video. They had decided to record the song in English to let the world know what was happening. On 8 March 2011, Rami El-Kaleh was shot in a

targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of assassination carried out by governments Extrajudicial killing, outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention wit ...

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

loyalists in

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

and died instantly from a bullet that pierced his heart. He had gone to pick up his brother from a friend's house in Benghazi and was to return to Dadoo's home, to re-record his guitar solo part. The song was released as a single credited to "Rami El-Kaleh and Friends" in his memory.

Charts

There was extensive media coverage on the circumstances of how the song came to be and Rami El-Kaleh's tragic death. It immediately became popular, charting in many European countries. The most successful was in Denmark, where it charted on ChartBase Top-100 for 7 weeks reaching No. 44 as its highest chart position.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:We Will Not Surrender We Win or We Die 2011 singles