The Liberation Front of Jura

The Liberation Front of Jura ( French Front de Libération du Jura ) is a youth political movement in Switzerland (1962-1993). The movement began to take shape in the 1960s, when the activity of the fighters for independence of the canton of Jura became most noticeable. Even before the foundation in the mid-1970s, as a separatist movement in favor of secession of the French-speaking regions of the canton of Bern and the formation of the independent canton of Jura , various provocative actions were carried out against the “pro-Bernese” citizens of the canton of Bern: telegraph poles exploded, attempts were made on military installations and peasant households. The movement’s name shows a clear reference to the Algerian National Liberation Front , since it was at that time that the Algerian war ended .

At the Lausanne Land Show in 1964, the Bélier organization (French: “battering rams”) showed itself for the first time, consisting mainly of aggressive young people. A group of young people skillfully used the day of the canton of Bern in order to proclaim in front of an amazed public the demands for "liberation" of Jura from Berne rule. In the same year, in Le Rangier, during a ceremony at a monument reminiscent of the advance of the Swiss army to the French border during the First World War, activists of the same group booed representatives of the Berne government and then Minister of Defense, Federal Advisor P. Chaudet. In January 1967, activists of this group entered the New Year’s diplomatic reception in Bern and launched a banner with the words “Free Jura”, which greatly surprised foreign diplomats (the separatist movement in “calm and peaceful Switzerland”!) On April 1, 1968, young Jurassist separatists organized in the meadow Rutli is your alternative national holiday.

In 1979, members of the movement held several high-profile actions aimed at drawing attention to the situation of the French-speaking community in Switzerland.