Beat Bieri

The protests of 1968 had a significant impact on the great cities of the world. But people like to forget that the periphery went through the same social upheavals – Central Switzerland, for example. This is hardly surprising: in the founding cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, society followed a strict order; tradition, shaped by centuries of Catholic rule, seemed untouchable. But in the 1960s, the local youth could not take these stifling conditions anymore: starting in 1969, resistance broke out across Central Switzerland.

Capitalism produces more and more losers worldwide. An old idea is given new strength: the cooperative. In Guatemala, a country with a cruel history and a dominant oligarchy, indigenous coffee farmers defy the most difficult circumstances. With their cooperative, which has been run by a Swiss citizen for 30 years, they have become one of the most important coffee exporters in the country.

In February 1971, a majority of Swiss men finally granted women equal political rights. However, eight cantons were still unable to bring themselves to take this step, including three cantons with a long tradition in Switzerland.