Word: swiss
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...centuries the Swiss kept Rütli Meadow to themselves, and this breathtakingly beautiful greensward, ringed by towering mountains, is still not easy to get to. In 1291, men from three cantons laid the foundations of the Swiss federation there by taking an oath to resist foreign oppressors. Despite this historical significance, there are no roads anywhere near Rütli. But 700 years later, the Swiss, at long last, opened a hiking trail. Known as the Swiss Path, it meanders for more than 30 km around Lake Uri and through the forests and alpine meadows that...
Sections of the path can be accessed by vintage steamers that ply Lake Uri and adjoining Lake Lucerne. The most scenic stretch is the 8 km between Rütli and the hamlet of Bauen, erstwhile home of a monk who composed the music for the Swiss national anthem. The path winds upwards past fields filled with wildflowers and butterflies, sloping steeply to the placid waters of the lake. Then it emerges from the woodland, and a panorama unfolds of lofty peaks around the Gotthard Pass. The only sounds are of wind, running water and birdsong...
...Vincent Minelli, director of the Zurich-based assisted-suicide group Dignitas, says that "if a new law is passed, the only thing it would accomplish is an increase in clandestine deaths and in the number of suicides in general." Unlike EXIT, whose membership is restricted to Swiss residents, at an annual fee of $27, Dignitas has sparked repeated controversy by helping people from abroad die in its clinic, including non-terminal cases like that of Dan James, a 23-year-old British rugby player who was paralyzed from the neck down and who ended his life in Zurich last year...
...There is no need for stricter regulations; they are already stringent enough," says Frank Petermann, an attorney specializing in medical law. "From a legal standpoint, it's difficult to understand how the Ministry of Justice can work out a draft bill that violates the Swiss constitution." That is one of the arguments that EXIT, Dignitas and other supporters of assisted suicide are vowing to use in their fight to maintain the existing law. "We will do all we can to combat this attempt at taking away our freedom," EXIT president Sobel vows. "If need be, we'll force a nationwide...
...just an idle threat. Switzerland's unique brand of grass-roots democracy permits its citizens to challenge a legislative decision through a referendum if 50,000 signatures are collected within three months. Given that an April opinion poll by M.I.S. Trend, a market-research institute, found that 75% of Swiss voters are in favor of the existing liberal legislation, the assisted-suicide law may be a hard one to kill...