Over 20 Palestinian cultural, including theaters and performing arts centers, have called for “widespread boycotts” of Captain America: New World Order, unless Marvel drops its superhero Sabra AKA Ruth Bat-Seraph, who “personifies the apartheid state of Israel” from the 2024 film.
In a joint letter, the organizations, including the Palestine Film Institute, the Freedom Theatre, and Popular Arts Center, criticize Marvel and parent company Disney for their “complicity in anti-Palestinian racism, Israeli propaganda, and the glorification of settler-colonial violence against Indigenous people.”
Pointing to the character’s backstory in Marvel comics that includes working for apartheid Israel’s government and Israeli occupation forces, the signatories say that “by reviving this racist character in any form, Marvel is promoting Israel’s brutal oppression of Palestinians.”
Alia Malak of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest entity in Palestinian society that is leading the global BDS movement, said:
“We echo the call of Palestinian film and arts organizations for boycotting Captain America: New World Order. Whatever superficial changes Marvel may make, the character’s anti-Palestinian racist history and representation of apartheid Israel cannot be sanitized.
Disney halted its distribution and broadcasting in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. Instead of taking similar steps against Israel’s decades-old occupation and colonization against Palestinians, Disney is deepening its complicity in apartheid.
Israel’s government is the most far-right, racist, homophobic, sexist and fundamentalist in its history, with a senior minister describing himself as a ‘fascist homophobe.’ Marvel’s Israeli character is inherently associated with this apartheid government, including its influential fascist element.”
The Palestinian organizations, who also include music and visual arts institutions, urge “creative, peaceful protests” to pressure Marvel and Disney: “principled filmgoers would have boycotted a movie featuring a superhero that represented the South African apartheid regime.”
“Principled filmgoers would have boycotted a movie featuring a superhero that represented the South African apartheid regime. Likewise, we urge conscientious audiences worldwide to join us in boycotting Captain America: New World Order, and standing up for freedom, justice and equality,” the groups noted.
