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Journalism of Courage
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become the face of grit and courage amid the Russian invasion of his country. As Zelenskyy is being hailed as a “hero” and “true inspiration” worldwide, a sign with his name has been erected outside the Russian Embassy in the US. The guerrilla artwork is now winning the internet.
As people have been protesting outside Russian embassies around the world, in Washington, instead of just placards to call off the war, activists also installed a metal sign unofficially renaming the street as “President Zelensky Way”. The spelling of the Ukrainian president’s last name in the sign is, however, different from the one he uses.
Photos of the new sign located outside the Embassy of Russia on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington D.C. have started a laughing riot online, with many going there to take selfies.
A political activist Claude Taylor has now taken responsibility for the sarcastic stunt, sharing images on his Twitter account and winning the internet. Taylor, the chair of Mad Dog PAC, told The Hill that the group often takes part in political “guerrilla art” protests and the sign is just their way of peacefully protesting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s atrocities and honouring Ukraine.
Saying it was “just a peaceful, nonviolent, silent form of protest,” Taylor told Insider: “We wanted to make a small, symbolic statement in support of Ukraine.”
The political campaign group also has a Ukrainian connection. Talking to HuffPost, Taylor added that Mad Dog’s billboard designer, a man identified as Sean, is currently in Dnipro, Ukraine, with his Ukrainian wife. He said that the couple is safe.
Although the sign has been put up temporarily, Taylor said he hoped the block that the Russian embassy takes up could be renamed permanently. Netizens too thought the same.
https://twitter.com/stormchaseguide/status/1500615157378134018
https://twitter.com/SheGoestoEleven/status/1501025831853953026
Earlier in 2020, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser renamed a section of downtown Washington Black Lives Matter Plaza, after the Department of Public Works painted the words “Black Lives Matter” on the road to show support for protesters following the death of George Floyd.
