What happened to the journalist
Ivan Golunov is a special correspondent for the Meduza outlet. On 6 June 2019 he was detained in Moscow and accused of attempting to sell drugs. The journalist himself and his colleagues stated that the case was connected to his professional work, in particular to materials about the funeral business, and called the charge fabricated. The investigation’s version and the newsroom’s version sharply diverged, and it was this divergence that caused the broad public reaction.
On 8 June a court placed the journalist under house arrest, and on 11 June the criminal case was dropped for lack of corpus delicti. Such a quick turn in cases of this kind was considered rare, and many linked it to the high-profile support campaign, of which this slogan became a part.
One front page for three newspapers
On 10 June 2019 Kommersant, Vedomosti and RBC came out with identical front pages that read “I/We Are Ivan Golunov”. Competing newsrooms rarely do anything together, so the very fact of a joint edition became news. Photographs of the page spread across social media at once, and then it was printed and carried to pickets.
Alongside the shared front page, it is worth noting the form of the inscription: it is short, symmetrical and readable at a glance. For a slogan this is an important quality: it can be repeated on a sheet of paper, on a T-shirt and in an avatar without explanation.
From slogan to poster
The same day Meduza published materials for everyone who wanted to join: avatars and social media covers, transparent PNGs for printing on T-shirts, A4, A3 and A2 poster layouts, and an English version. The graphics, at the outlet’s direction, were made by Svyat and Nastya Vishnyakov. Thanks to the ready-made layout, the campaign did not depend on designers: anyone could download the file and print it at home.
That is why the slogan quickly became a form. Later, on the same principle, “I/We + name” was used for posters and avatars supporting other people and causes, changing the name while keeping the overlay of the two pronouns. So a concrete text turned into a recognizable visual device.
How to read the image
In the picture in the collection, a black letter “I” is overlaid on a red “WE”: the letters slightly overlap. Below, in two lines in a heavy black typeface, it reads “IVAN GOLUNOV” on a light gray background. There are no photos or decorations, so the graphics look equally good on a phone screen and on a large sheet.
The meaning reads in the overlay: the personal “I” and the collective “we” are joined, and between them stands the name of the person in question. For a card it is important to remember that the image refers to a specific case and a specific person, rather than serving as an abstract call.
Caption examples based on the form
Below are invented examples showing the mechanics of “I/We”. They do not refer to real people or events; in a serious context it is better not to parody this form.
“I/We are tired of waiting for the lift.” The joke builds on scale: a solemn form of solidarity is applied to a household trifle, and the gap between pathos and occasion creates the effect.
“I/We got there without traffic and don’t believe it.” Here exaggeration works: the event is described as a shared shock, and the word “we” turns personal luck into collective news.
“I/We are still looking for the second sock.” The example relies on a recognizable situation: everyone searches for a sock alone, but the form makes the search everyone’s business.
All variants keep the two-line structure and the overlay of pronouns, changing only what stands behind them.
When the form fits
The template works better where the subject is genuinely support, and worse in jokes about someone else’s misfortune. If a caption turns a real person’s fate into a source of irony, the slogan loses its original meaning. Everyday paraphrases are acceptable as long as it is clear that this is a play with the form, not with the event itself.
