Raising $1,000 after two days, it has now reached $2 million. I thought if I got to $500, it would be amazing,” Borys recalled.
The former journalist, who has Ukrainian roots and has spent between 20 covering the war in eastern Ukraine, initially just wanted to use the design to sell some $10 stickers and raise money for charity. Even Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sported a T-shirt bearing the image and mentioned it in his 100-day-of-war-video. Immortalised as a giant mural of an armed saint painted on a Kyiv building, printed on stickers, emblazoned on clothes and posted all over social media networks, Borys never thought his revamped ‘Saint Javelin’-meme would become so popular. Still, the overwhelming public image of Ukraine, boosted by memes and local brands, has turned the tide of war, Borys said. When Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the invasion received far less attention in the West. Images such as Ukrainian tractors towing away a disabled Russian tank have not only helped fight Russian disinformation but also supported Ukrainian charities and even the military.
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“The Russians were unbelievably good at their propaganda in 2014 and 15, and Ukraine couldn’t figure out how to counter it – now it’s completely flipped around,” he added, speaking on the sidelines of the GLOBSEC forum in Bratislava.ĭozens more jokes, memes, tweets and YouTube sketches have emerged ridiculing Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, lauding Ukrainian service members and slamming NATO and the EU for not providing enough help. “It may feel strange to have memes during the war, but in 2022, they are the most effective way to communicate and for boosting morale,” Borys said. The Saint Javelin meme, which depicts the Virgin Mary holding a Javelin anti-tank missile, has become the symbol of Ukrainian resistance and an unlikely source of funding.ĮURACTIV spoke to Christian Borys, a Canadian journalist turned entrepreneur who decided to turn the meme into a charity brand to help fundraise for the country’s reconstruction. In this week’s edition: Ukraine’s Black Sea woes, post-EUCO hangover and Kazakh referendum. You can subscribe to receive our newsletter here.
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