Sara Winter’s Critics Say She Is an Opportunist, Not an Activist

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Sara Fernanda Gironimi, who goes by the name of Sara Winter, has been labeled as an ex-feminist turned extreme-right activist and one of President Jair Bolsonaro’s most faithful supporters. Those who knew her before she became a radical militant, however, say she is anything but an activist, labelling her just an opportunist looking to gain media coverage for herself.

“It is wrong to call her an ex-feminist or former left wing activist. She never was any of these things. I’ve always considered her an opportunist,” Luka Franca, feminist militant and activist for the Black Unified Movement (MNU in Portuguese) tells The Rio Times.

Winter was arrested on Monday, charged with engaging in anti-democratic activities. She became a household name earlier this month when she threatened Supreme Court Justice, Alexandre de Moraes and urged supporters to protest in front of the Justice’s residence.

According to Franca, Sara Winter was featured in Brazil’s national media for the first time in 2012, when she participated in the second annual Marcha das Vadias (Slut March) in São Paulo.

“She came out of nowhere and appeared in photos of the March, despite not speaking for the group or attending any of the preliminary meetings,” says Franca.

At the time, Winter was the leader of the Ukraine feminist group, Femen, Brazilian chapter. Although the organizer said the group was close-knit, her second in command, Bruna Themis left the organization, accusing Winter of being authoritarian and making all the decisions.

“The final word is always Sara’s, without any previous discussion,” said Themis to a local internet news outlet. Winter was eventually expelled from Femen Brazil after its head office accused her of embezzling money sent from abroad ‘for the cause’.

According to Franca, around that time Winter also tried to join feminist groups on Facebook, including one called ‘Feministas’ which had approximately 2,000 women. “I was the administrator of that at the time and she was expelled from the group. I was the person who removed her from there after she caused a general discomfort,” she said.

“She calls herself an ex-feminist, although she never was one,” says Franca, adding, “She has always been frivolous with women’s rights.”

According to the activist Franca, Winter rose as a ‘feminist’ reference for the mainstream media, but was never linked with the real and organized feminist movement in Brazil. “She never attended a meeting or debated seriously the issues that we were debating at the time,” adds Franca.

Sara Gironimi adopted the surname Winter after Nazi supporter Sara Winter, who was part of the British Union of Fascists and helped the regime of Adolf Hitler.

On Winter’s official website, she defines herself as a speaker and writer who ‘rallied against Christianity, in favor of homosexuality and abortion’ but that after undergoing an abortion herself, she converted to Christianity and wrote a book, about feminism in Brazil.

Her support for President Bolsonaro goes back to a time when he was still a legislator in the Chamber of Deputies. Bolsonaro, however, did not mention Winter’s arrest in any of his social media.

“Those in the Bolsonaro government are trying to distance themselves from her,” says Franca, adding that even Damares Alves, minister of Human Rights, Family and Women, who appointed Winter to a position within the Bolsonaro government in 2019, has not stepped up to support her. The 300 group leader remained less than seven months in the ministry.

Winter’s brother, Diego Giromini, approved her arrest on Monday. “For me it was a positive, because Sara cannot live in society, ever. She is a sociopath,” he told journalists, adding that his sister should be committed to a psychiatric hospital and not a penitentiary. “She is a disgrace both to the right (wing) and to the left (wing),” he said.

For the brother, the association with the extremist movement, as well as the feminist struggle alongside the radical Ukrainian group Femen, was seen as an opportunity to be featured in the media. “Her goal has always been fame, money and power; she has no ideology,” he told several media outlets in the country.

“I haven’t seen Sara since 2017. Her 4-year-old son lives with my mother here in São Carlos. She doesn’t talk to me, my older brother or our father. She only maintains a relationship with our mother. Her name is forbidden to be spoken in the house to avoid fights,” he told weekly news magazine, Veja.

He, along with other critics, believe that Monday’s arrest was planned by Winter herself, so she can later call herself a ‘political prisoner’. “She is a totally out of control person, and she just wants to appear in the media,” concludes the brother.