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NAFO (group)

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The North Atlantic Fellas Organization (NAFO; a play on NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an Internet meme and an online phenomenon dedicated to countering Russian propaganda and disinformation about the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1][2]

NAFO
North Atlantic Fellas Organization
TypeOnline affiliation

In addition to posting pro-Ukraine memes, or ones mocking Russian war effort and strategy, and "shitposting," the group also raises funds for the Ukrainian military and other pro-Ukrainian causes.[2][3] The representation of a NAFO "Fella" is a Shiba Inu dog, often used as an avatar and sometimes described as a "cartoon dog."[3][4] According to The Economist, "NAFO's flippancy obscures its role as a remarkably successful form of information warfare."[5]

History

The meme was created in May 2022, when Twitter artist @Kama_Kamilia started adding modified pictures of a Shiba Inu dog (the "Fella") to photographs from Ukraine.[3] NAFO, such as it is, was founded on 24 May 2022 with a tweet.[6] According to Jamie Cohen, an assistant professor of media studies at Queens College of the City University of New York, the Shiba Inu breed has had a significant presence in online culture since at least 2010.[7]

After some time, Kama began creating custom "Fellas" for others who donated to the Georgian Legion.[3] "Fellas" is a gender-neutral term.[2] Service members (current and retired) from Ukrainian and NATO militaries, as well as Eastern Europeans and Eastern European diaspora, are heavily represented among its legions.[2][5] The Fellas make appearances in various edited still images and "TikTok-style videos of Ukrainian troops set to dance music soundtracks," and are "spliced into war footage to mock Russia's military and praise Ukraine's soldiers."[6]

Custom Fellas are created in exchange for a donation to pro-Ukrainian causes; a distributed network of 34 (and counting) forgers does the artwork.[6] The group reports raising more than US$400,000 for the Georgian Legion as of 31 August 2022.[6]

In August 2022, NAFO raised money for Signmyrocket.com, a website where people pay to have custom messages written on Ukrainian artillery shells and equipment. The result is a 2S7 Pion artillery cannon covered in NAFO memes, such as the inscription "Super Bonker 9000" and a sticker of a baseball bat on the barrel with the inscription "NAFO-Article 69".[8] American military periodical Task & Purpose described it as “self-propelled artillery that is bringing internet memes into terrestrial form.”[9]

In June, the group rose to mainstream prominence after an interaction on Twitter between Russian diplomat Mikhail Ivanovich Ulyanov and a number of NAFO accounts with cartoon dogs as avatars. After Ulyanov, who's been known for his anti-Ukrainian posts on Twitter, claimed that the 2022 Russian invasion was justified by Ukraine, allegedly, shelling civilians in the Donbas since 2014, a NAFO fella pointed out that since 2014 Ukraine has been defending itself against Russian aggression in the Donbas and that there was no justification for Russia's constant attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Ulyanov responded by writing, "You pronounced this nonsense. Not me." Subsequently, the first portion of the response was seized upon.[3] After it was pointed out to the Russian ambassador that he was arguing with cartoon dogs online, he ceased posting on Twitter for two weeks, leading to speculation he had been admonished or reprimanded by Russian intelligence services. The phrase "you pronounced this nonsense," or simply "pronouncing nonsense," came to be used by NAFO as a quick and dismissive way to mock pro-Russian accounts.[5]

Per The Economist, "Another popular slogan—'What air defence doing?'—pokes fun at the failure of Russian air defences to prevent an attack on Saky air base in Crimea on August 9th."[5]

Impact

American media studies professor Jaime Cohen argues that the NAFO movement is an "actual tactical event against a nation state."[6] British-Lebanese journalist Oz Katerji asserts that NAFO "has hampered Russia's propagandists and made them look absurd and ridiculous in the process."[10]

According to Politico, "To delve into NAFO is to get a crash course in how online communities from the Islamic State to the far-right boogaloo movement to this rag-tag band of online warriors have weaponized internet culture."[6]

On 28 August 2022, the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine tweeted its appreciation of NAFO, with an image of missiles being fired and "Fella" dressed in a combat uniform, hands on face, in a posture of appreciation.[11][8][12]

On 30 August 2022, Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov temporarily changed his Twitter avatar to a Fella commissioned in his honor, so-called Oleksii Fellaznikov.[13][12]

A founder of Bellingcat, Eliot Higgins, tweeted on 30 August 2022, "Looking forward to including #NAFO in two conference keynotes I'm doing on countering disinformation in the coming weeks ... Not even as a bit, but as an example of online communities organically responding to disinformation from governments and counterfactual communities via shitposting. Plus it's good for morale."[14]

Ukraine's Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand Vasyl Myroshnychenko noted that the grassroots, decentralized nature of NAFO is an important part of its strength.[12]

Notable people with Fella avatars have included:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Cole, Brendan (19 August 2022). "'What Air Defense Doing': Adam Kinzinger Joins Meme Mockery of Russia". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Pearson, Pez (15 August 2022). "The doges of war: how a Twitter meme is helping fight the Russian war in Ukraine". Yorkshire Bylines. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gault, Matthew (12 July 2022). "Shitposting Shiba Inu Accounts Chased a Russian Diplomat Offline". Vice. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Let slip the online shiba inus of war". New Scientist. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d Joshi, Shashank (31 August 2022). "A virtual army of impish cartoon pooches is waging war on Russia". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Scott, Mark (31 August 2022). "The shit-posting, Twitter-trolling, dog-deploying social media army taking on Putin one meme at a time". POLITICO. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  7. ^ Thorsberg, Christian (6 August 2022). "Good doge: How the internet adopted the Shiba Inu and gave it a forever home". Grid News. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  8. ^ a b Gault, Matthew (30 August 2022). "NAFO Memesters Paid Ukraine to Paint Their Memes on a Tank". Vice. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  9. ^ Hauptman, Max (31 August 2022). "Meme war: You can pay to get memes painted on Ukrainian artillery, bombs, and rockets". Task & Purpose. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  10. ^ Zappone, Chris (29 August 2022). "NAFO, the furry fellas taking a bite out of Russia's info war machine". The Age. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  11. ^ @DefenceU (28 August 2022). "We usually express gratitude to our international partners for the security assistance. But today we want to give a shout-out to a unique entity – North Atlantic Fellas Organization #NAFO. Thanks for your fierce fight against kremlin's propaganda &trolls. We salute you, fellas!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ a b c Hamill-Stewart, Chris (31 August 2022). "The Memes Fighting Russian Propaganda". Byline Times. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  13. ^ Reznikov, Oleksii [@oleksiireznikov] (30 August 2022). "My personal salute to #NAFOfellas. I'd like to thank each person behind Shiba Inu cartoon. Your donations to support our defenders, your fight VS misinformation is valuable. I'm changing my profile picture for a few days. Cheers @marlowc2324 NAFO expansion is non-negotiatiable [sic]!" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 August 2022 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Higgins, Eliot [@EliotHiggins] (30 August 2022). "Looking forward to including #NAFO in two conference keynotes I'm doing on countering disinformation in the coming weeks" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 August 2022 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Ives, Toomas Hendrik [@IlvesToomas] (9 July 2022). "I have finally acceded to NAFO" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ Kinzinger, Adam [@adamkinzinger] (2 August 2022). "In case it is not obvious, I'm self-declaring as a proud member of #NAFO the #fellas shall prevail" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 August 2022 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ @PatDonahoeArmy (11 July 2022). "Sir, join the Fellas" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ @apmassaro3 (1 September 2022). "In honor of our famous fellas" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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