Vive le Jura Libre!

A perennial threat to the stability of many European states is the demand of certain minorities, such as Spain's Basques or the Bretons of France, for regional autonomy. The most recent country to be struck by a wave of minority discontent is, of all places, peaceful little Switzerland. Investigating a suspicious fire at an army ammunition depot near Delemont on the French border recently, authorities found the letters FLJ--"Front de Liberation Jurassien daubed on in fresh paint. The front is the more militant of two organizations representing dissident Swiss in the Jura region of Bern canton.

The 135,000 French-speaking Jurassians*, who are mostly Roman Catholic, have long been embroiled in a battle for ethnic survival with the German-speaking Protestants who dominate Switzerland's richest, most populous canton. In recent years, demands for autonomy have revived and the Jurassians have formed aggressive organizations.

The foremost of these is the Rassemblement Jurassien, whose membership includes more than half the region. The Rassemblemerit's youth group, known as Les Beliers (The Rams), has mounted such protests as tarring Bern streetcar tracks to halt traffic and barricading the entrance to the cantonal legislature. The smaller, more aggressive FLJ has set fire to buildings and dynamited railroads in addition to attacking the ammunition depot at Delemont.

The Swiss government is trying to deal with the Jurassians by means of a seven-man group of political "wise men," headed by former Swiss President Max Petitpierre. So far the wise men have come up with no solutions. As a result, says one foreign diplomat, the Swiss now "have their own liberation front, which shows that they're ready to join the world at large."

* Originally part of the Swiss Bishopric of Basel, the Jura region was annexed by the French at the turn of the 19th century but was given back to Switzerland by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

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