“Sacrifice zone” is the term used to characterize a geographical region that has been subjected to environmental damage or a lack of economic investment. According to academic analysts, it refers to areas associated with low-income and often racialized communities that bear the brunt of environmental effects related to pollution, toxic waste, and heavy industry. Sacrifice zones generate long-term poverty and social exclusion. The term originated during the Cold War in relation to radioactive fallout, reminding us of Chernobyl as described by Svetlana Alexievich; but today, we could talk about other sacrifice zones where human and non-human lives are treated as exclusion zones, residual areas, as seen with industrial farms or refugee camps.

We will discuss this with Ruben Wagensberg, activist and spokesperson for “Casa nostra, casa vostra,” who has worked in refugee camps in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, or Greece, and with social scientist Irra Rodríguez-Giralt, an expert in disasters, who has worked with communities affected by slow or chronic contamination processes in Catalonia and Chile.

This activity is part of the public program of the exhibition “Holidays with Franco. My Summers in Francoist Spain.”