(Vilnius) Combining humour, derision and seriousness, a group of Internet users defending Ukraine on social networks and identifying themselves as NAFO organized their own summit in a nightclub in Vilnius, two days before the summit of the leaders of the NATO.
With tens of thousands of netizens donating to Ukraine, the North Atlantic Fella Organization – for North Atlantic Guys Organization, abbreviated as NAFO – has a knack for using memes against propaganda Russian, with a consummate art of sarcasm and mockery.
NAFO’s founders use the famous Doge meme, featuring a Shiba Inu dog, to create personalized avatars for donors, allowing them to identify themselves as NAFO members.
“We raised between 15 and 20 million dollars,” says, without being able to say precisely how much, Paul Peterson, one of the founders of NAFO and American truck driver.
On Twitter, where NAFO’s account has more than 108,000 followers, and other social media platforms, the community is wielding humor to counter Russian narratives.
Humor and weapons
On Saturday, more than 100 people attended the NAFO summit in disco.
Kirsty Harris, a 47-year-old British NHS health worker, got her Doge avatar in July.
She became more active on Twitter after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
“I was banned (on Twitter, editor’s note) by the Russian embassy in London for calling them instigators of genocide every day for about two months,” she told AFP.
Mme Harris later took a more humorous approach, saying, “If you make them look stupid, it tends to make them back off a bit.” »
Mark Adam Harold, a British activist who lives in Lithuania and organized the “summit”, believes that “humor and weapons” are the only ways to counter the “absurdity” of Russia.
“The propaganda they’re spreading is so crazy that if you try to discuss it, there’s no way to stop it,” Mr Harold told AFP.
“If they’re spreading this absurd nonsense, then the only way to respond to it is to also be absurd,” he added, “It’s not a joke.”
In a recent tweet, we see a photo of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with an imaginary line concerning the cluster bombs that the United States will deliver to Kyiv: “But how dare Ukraine use against our soldiers the weapons that we use against its civilians? “.
The NAFO initiative has not gone unnoticed by the Ukrainian political class and NATO member countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented NAFO with a special plaque in recognition of their efforts, and a tweet from Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov supporting the community helped give it momentum the year last.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis himself attended the NAFO “summit” and addressed the participants.
“You are funny, but you are not a joke,” he told the audience. “Your community is an example of the creativity and ingenuity of people free to associate and express themselves in a democracy, and that is the strength of our system,” he added.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, also admired by the NAFO community, said countering Russian disinformation “requires a good sense of humor, intelligence and enthusiasm”.
“Behind every guy is a real person, you volunteer your time and energy because you believe in Ukraine winning,” she told attendees in a pre-recorded message.
“Keep fighting the good fight, as NAFO’s expansion is non-negotiable,” she encouraged.