4 JÜRG STEINER Clinique Le Noirmont in the canton of Jura sits like a castle on the hill above the village from which it takes its name. Behind the building, the terrain drops steeply into the deep gorge of the River Doubs that separates Switzerland from France. In the other direction are the tree-topped highlands of Franches-Montagnes – one of Switzerland’s more thinly populated regions. Wedged in on the border, Clinique Le Noirmont is the biggest national rehabilitation centre for patients with cardiovascular disease. It is a good point from which to begin a tour of Switzerland’s youngest canton, a place where the people have long worn their heart on their sleeve. The canton has a history of defiant activism – one that inspires outsiders who recognise the generous, dissenting, freedom-loving instincts of the people who live there. Jura serves as a romantic counterpoint to efficient, precise, competitive Switzerland. The freedom to In 1974, Jura voted to split from Berne and form its own canton. Fifty years later, what makes the most defiant corner of Switzerland the place it is now? The author got on his bike to find out. Bike at the ready; A stunning snapshot of Jura: Les Breuleux on the left, Le Noirmont somewhere through the mist on the right. Photos: Jürg Steiner (top), Keystone (below) Fifty years since the high-water mark of Jura separatism, how much of this rebelliousness is now myth and how much still reality? To find out, I set off on my bike from Le Noirmont and headed east to Jura’s capital Delémont – a fitting thing to do. The canton of Jura came into being through people battling the political headwinds that came their way. And cyclists are buffeted by plenty of headwinds on the gusty Jura plateau. Marginalised and resentful Sunday, 23 March 1974 turned out to be a historic day when the referendum results were announced. “Il pleut la liberté [It’s raining freedom],” Roger Schaffter, one of the main figures of Jura’s separatist movement, said poetically on the balcony of Delémont’s town hall as it began to rain. 4 Focus
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