Swiss Review 4/2018

3 Swiss Review / July 2018 / No.4 The Alps are undoubtedly a vitally important part of Switzerland and how it sees itself. They are unmissa- ble. They are immoveable. Yet, how we perceive the mountains has changed. This has become evident over the past two years. Over this period, the Swiss have been ponderingwhether the nation should bid to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2026. The normally sports-mad Valais put an end to the project in June. Voters there overwhelmingly rejected their canton’s financial contribution to the Games at the ballot box. Switzerland’s candidacy has therefore been withdrawn. The prospect of hosting the sporting event was a dream for many but a nightmare for others. The issue was fiercely debated. One camp of friends of the Alps argued that hosting the Games here would see their return to the birthplace of winter sports and allow the rediscovery of, and a return to, greater simplicity. The key concept of the Olympic project was to use only ex- isting sporting facilities to prove that the Games do not necessarily require massive infrastructure and dubious encroachment. The other group of friends of the Alps see the mountain landscape in a completely different way. They perceive the Alps as a habitat made vulnera- ble by climate change and jeopardised by pressure from the commercial events industry. The opponents of the Olympics also focused on the people who live in the mountain communities. These mountain dwellers urgently require prospects for the future, they argued, which theOlympic Gameswith their designed for the moment artificiality cannot deliver. They refuted the notion that the Games offer any kind of sustainability. Turning down the Games means that Switzerland will not be amongst the bidding nations for theOlympics for years to come. The question remains as to how we will perceive the Alps in future and how we will deal with the pressure to use this now fragile mountain landscape. “Swiss Review” also addresses this issue in the article by the author and historianDaniel Di Falco on page 6. Di Falcowonderfully illustrates how the Alps have always been a projection screen, a stage that provides a healthy dose of thrills and spills and directs our gaze. For example, artists like the painter Ferdinand Hodler, who died 100 years ago, shaped the image of the moun- tains as an idyll for generations. However, even Hodler travelled in comfort by mountain railway to the locations where he portrayed the natural alpine environment. MARC LETTAU, EDITOR Editorial 5 Mailbag 6 Focus Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s flirt with alpine thrills 10 Politics The referendums of 10 June Agricultural policy under the spotlight The bicycle’s path into the federal constitution 14 Society Switzerland searches for debris in outer space 16 Economy PostBus’s yellow veneer tarnished 17 Literature series A Swiss writer conquers Paris as the companion of great men 18 Culture The latest cartoon hero – Roger Federer 20 Sport The alternative, urban football scene 23 OSA news 26 news.admin.ch 28 Images 30 Books / Sounds 31 This and that / News in brief Contents Perceptions of the Swiss mountains Cover photo: Wellness in the Zermatt pool – against the backdrop of the Matterhorn. Photo: Keystone