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Instagram | Sara Winter
“None of the members of the 300 in Brazil speaks of ‘armed militia’, let alone invading Congress or the Supreme Court,” says activist
The militant Sara Geromini, the main spokesperson for the controversial group calling itself “300 de Brasilia”, acknowledged in an interview with BBC News Brasil the existence of weapons within the camp established by the group in Brasilia.
According to Geromini, also known as Sara Winter, the weapons would serve to “protect the members of the camp themselves.”
“In our group, there are members who are CAC (acronym for Collector, Shooter and Hunter), others who have weapons duly registered with the competent organizations. These weapons are for the protection of the members of the camp themselves and have nothing to do with our militancy. ” Geromini said.
It is the first time that the camp’s spokesperson admits the existence of weapons among the members of the radical group, which has generated concern about the alleged paramilitary activities, something that the activist denies.
The “300 in Brasilia” are under investigation by the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. Last week, PSOL deputies called for an investigation to be carried out to determine Sara Winter’s performance in the alleged “militia training.”
The STF authorized the opening of the procedure to determine who would be the funders of the movements.
For BBC News Brazil, the self-proclaimed international lecturer says he defends “methods of non-violent action” and states that “absolutely none of the members of the 300 in Brazil speak of ‘armed militia’, let alone invading Congress or the STF “.
However, in at least one caravan organized by the group, such initiatives were defended by the participants.
‘Give your life for the nation’
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Instagram | Sara Winter
Radical group is concerned about alleged paramilitary activities, which its spokesperson denies
Sara Winter was a candidate for federal deputy by the DEM of Rio de Janeiro in the last elections. With 17,246 votes, she could not be elected.
Since then, she has opted for radicalization on her social media channels, where she says that she is escorted by armed security guards, defends that the members of the STF “be eliminated by law or by the hands of the people” and supports “extermination on the left. ”
Between April and October last year, she served as general coordinator of Comprehensive Care for Pregnant Women and Maternity at the Ministry of Family, Women and Human Rights, as indicated by Minister Damares Alves, with whom she shares flags against feminism and the abortion.
In the past, however, he was a member of the Femen group and even “castrated” a doll representing then-federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro.
Now, his focus is concentrated on convening militants so that “the people are the sovereign class of the country.”
“In all of our communiqués, we clearly say that we use non-violent action and civil disobedience techniques. What does non-violent action have to do with weapons? It’s funny how the nickname of the paramilitary militia was quickly assigned to us, but it never happened near the MST militants, who carry pistols and machetes. ”
Sara Winter, however, likes to publish photos with weapons and says on social networks that she “shoots very well”.
Now he defends the group as “family parents, ladies and young people united, formed and organized.”
“(We are) prepared to lay down our lives for the nation, and our weapons are faith in God, hope in this government, and methods of nonviolent action.”
STF
In the authorization for the investigation that includes the group, the STF emphasized that the Brazilian Constitution prohibits the “financing and propagation of ideas contrary to the constitutional order and the Democratic State” and the “carrying out of demonstrations aimed at violating the rule of law.”
Winter defends himself by saying that concrete threats to democratic institutions would have come from other groups. According to his calculations, there would be “more than 40 different right-wing movements” in Brasilia.
“Some are interventionists, this is not the case for the 300 in Brazil. If other groups say that (the invasion of Congress or the Supreme Court), it is not our responsibility.”
“We, the 300, do not believe in military intervention, but in popular intervention, that is, in the idea that all power emanates from the people, according to the provisions of Article 1 of the National Constitution,” he says.
However, when it comes to the left, he does not hesitate to defend “criminalization” of what he understands as “communism”.
In videos posted by the group, Sara and the other members chant slogans such as “minister, eat, people are hungry,” “we want to work, let the” myth “rule” or “STF, pay attention, your robe will make him become on a floor cloth. ”
The group also participated in protests in favor of President Jair Bolsonaro and against social isolation measures defended by scientists from the main institutes and universities on the planet and members of the World Health Organization.
The report asks if the president or members of the government have already shown their support for the activities.
She quotes three Bolsonar federal deputies, but does not comment on President Bolsonaro.
“Many deputies from the allied base have given us support, always moral, without donations of money or food, or legal assistance, because we do not accept it either. But they always visit us, they give us moral strength.”
When asked about the camp’s objectives, he cites issues such as the redemption of the National Sovereignty, respect for the allocation of powers and the full implementation of the federative pact, the governance of the Executive Power.
The report questions what the group means by “respect for the tripartite powers.”
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Instagram | Sara Winter
“The group is a symptom of President Bolsonaro’s own undemocratic impetus,” says the historian.
Winter then points to the Supreme Court and criticizes what she points to as “interference by the Supreme Court in the government of the executive,” calls for the abolition of the “judicial activism” of the Supreme Court on issues such as gender or abortion and threatens:
“That the STF knows its role in the Federative Republic of Brazil and that under no circumstances does it try to challenge the Brazilian people, dishonoring the lives of millions of hungry people, judging that it is the municipal and state competence to decide on the opening of trade and the movement of people, or within the scope of public security, extinguishing the arrest in 2 instances “.
BBC News Brazil recalls that the tripartition of powers exists precisely as a system of checks and balances, so that no power can act absolutely.
For the activist, the other Powers would act to prevent Bolsonaro from being re-elected.
“The executive does not have governability because the presidents of the Chamber and the Senate, along with the STF, have no interest in a prosperous Brazil. They only want to prevent Bolsonaro from governing so that he is not re-elected.”
‘Matter of concern’
BBC News Brazil, historian Federico Finchelstein, a professor at the New School in New York and an expert in radicalism and populism, says the group is cause for concern.
“They are not necessarily important or relevant in themselves, but they are a symptom of President Bolsonaro’s own undemocratic drive,” he says.
“The group shows the spectrum that fans who follow this type of leader: sound extreme, defend militarism, attack institutions and show contempt for minorities,” he continues.
Author of seven books on fascism and populism in Latin America, Finchelstein draws attention to the symbology behind the group’s name.
The 300 of Brasilia are inspired by the story told in the film. 300, a fiction that shows how an army of 300 Spartan soldiers defended their territory against 30,000 invaders.
In the videos, they use the same battle cry shown in the movie. “That name shows an important dimension: that of sacrifice. The history of the 300 shows that they are willing to die in the name of their leader. There is the idea of sacrifice, that the death of individual people is not so important for these groups.” , he says.
“In parallel, while thousands of people die in Brazil, the country’s leader is riding a jet ski.”
‘Religious fundamentalism’
In a recent video, the militant said that the police had asked to dismantle the camp.
“The riot squad threatened and then the women fell to their knees and shouted to God not to go any further. They did not take a step,” Winter says in the images.
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Instagram | Sara Winter
“The 300 of us do not believe in military intervention, but in popular intervention,” says the activist.
BBC News Brasil comments on the scene. “All I did was line up men and make them shout war cries, then defend 20 tents from the military police, coordinate 20 women kneeling on the grass in Congress to move the police.”
Many described the scene of the women kneeling in the Esplanada dos Ministérios as an episode of fanaticism or religious fundamentalism.
The report questions the activist about this opinion. “We do not care about the opinion of the critics, we care about the efficiency of the act and the achievement of our objectives. We are technical,” he simply responds.
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