Word: switzerland
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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More than anywhere else, the ripples have grown into a wave of protest in Switzerland. Last week, in a national referendum, 70% of the voters favored much tighter controls on nuclear construction. No new plant can be built until planners submit proof that 1) it is definitely needed, and 2) the waste-disposal problem is solved. The measure also shifts nuclear regulatory authority from the energy ministry to the Swiss parliament, where interminable delays are expected...
...will be hard, perhaps impossible, for Switzerland to break from its nuclear umbilical cord. Lacking fossil fuels, it relies more per capita on nuclear power for its electrical energy than any other country in the world. Three nuclear plants produce 12% of Switzerland's electricity needs. A fourth plant was supposed to have started up by now, but it has been delayed indefinitely by Harrisburg. Admits Willi Ritschard, Switzerland's energy minister: "We Cannot survive without nuclear energy...
...nervous gaze of the Vichy government and in the shadow of a Nazi SS division stationed near by. Thousands of adults and children were saved. Those who could not be concealed were sometimes guided past hostile French police and German troops through the eastern mountains to safety in Switzerland. Years later the state of Israel saluted the work of Le Chambon during "the epoch of extermination" and awarded a Medal of Righteousness to Protestant Clergyman André Trocmé, who inspired the village in its resistance to evil. The story of Le Chambon is heartening; its neglect...
Sure, some residents of the standstill town of Winterthur (pop. 88,000) in the German-speaking part of Switzerland had long felt that the place could use a little excitement. But a pop religious cult gone bananas, a running feud between town and saffron gown, allegations of planted bombs in rosebushes and naked-altar ceremonies in postcard-pretty woods? This was more than anybody had bargained...
...seems that back in the cult-happy '60s, a wealthy local matron fell under the swami's spell in India and invited him to Switzerland. Her generosity helped launch the Divine Light Center in a cluster of 15 houses, which the swami painted an offensive bright blue. Worshipful disciples pestered the neighborhood with nonstop proselytizing. From 4 in the morning on, loudspeakers bellowing holy chants echoed through the district. The stolid burghers finally lost patience and in 1975 won an official order to have the swami expelled from the country...