Lia Naira
The Lia Naira ( Ladin for “Black Bund” , pronunciation [ ˌliːɐ ˈnairɐ ]) was an action committee against the construction of hydropower plants in the Swiss Engadin in the 1950s .
organization
Exponents of the Lia Naira were the teacher, poet and environmentalist Armon Planta from Sent GR (1917–1986), Giachen Arquint from Zernez (1905–1972) and Men Rauch from Scuol (1888–1958) as editor of the then Engadine newspaper Fögl Ladin .
There was a group of around 200 people from the Lower Engadine who had signed the appeal «l'otra vusch» («the other voice»). At the center of the organization, however, were only about twenty activists who wrote newspaper articles and appealed . These people came from the academic environment of the Lower Engadine. Seven people from this hard core worked as writers or translators. Even Luisa Famos was one of the members.
aims
In the 1950s, the Lia Naira fought against the construction of the Engadiner Kraftwerke AG (EKW / OEE) facilities. This included projects on the Inn , on the Spöl and in the area of the Swiss National Park .
One of the arguments of the association was that the age of atomic energy had begun and the destruction of the environment through the construction of dams and hydroelectric power stations was therefore no longer tolerable.
Many activists saw a connection between the physical destruction of the valley by hydropower plants and the immigration of foreigners and with it the loss of the Romance language. The tone of voice was pathetic for a long time, here is an example from the Fögl Ladin :
“ O Engiadina, tü est sco üna mamma per nus tuots, ma tour davent Teis En, Teis En chi dà la vita, qua ais sco scha inchün vendess per munaida ils ögls da sia mamma. "
"O Engadin, you are like a mother to us all, but taking away your Inn, your life-giving Inn, that is as if someone were selling their mother's eyes for money."
The Fögl Ladin with Men Rauch as editor was in fact the publication organ of the Lia Naira. In contrast to the Engadin, there was little understanding of the objectives of the Lia Naira in the rest of the canton of Graubünden .
history
Starting position
From 1950 to 1970, 27 dam walls were built in the canton of Graubünden and 63 dam walls in the rest of Switzerland: there was a boom in hydropower plant construction. This euphoria sparked a heated discussion on the subject of environmental protection.
In 1943, two consortia began planning hydropower plants in the Lower Engadine. Already at this time the first opponents of hydropower plants met, but not yet under the name “Lia Naira”, but simply as an “action committee”.
State treaty with Italy
In 1954 the two planning consortia merged to form “Engadiner Kraftwerke AG”. As a result, the project of a reservoir in the neighboring, Italian Livigno became concrete:
The Spöl flows from Livigno to Zernez for 6 km partly through the Swiss National Park and partly along its border. Basically, one wanted to use the hydropower of the Spöl for a long time. Although projects for a purely Swiss Spöl reservoir had existed since 1919, it made more sense to build a dam at the Punt dal Gall ( "Hahnenbrücke" ) in the Livigno Valley, right on the border. For this reason, Switzerland and Italy worked out a state treaty for the use of the Spöl. The National Council approved the treaty on September 27, 1957 with 143 to 2 votes, and the Council of States followed on December 18, 1957 with 31 to 0 votes.
Creation of the Lia Naira
The action committee critical of hydropower was named Lia Naira on February 10, 1957: Defenders of the hydropower projects made fun of the action committee and dubbed it "Lia Naira" because the activists allegedly mostly met at night. The activists did not defend themselves against this nickname and made it their official name two weeks later.
Popular initiative and referendum
In 1957 the Lia Naira launched the Federal People's Initiative "for the preservation of the Swiss National Park". Independently of this, the Lia Naira held a referendum against the treaty between Switzerland and Italy. On March 24, 1958, the Lia Naira submitted the referendum with 86,949 signatures. The majority of the signatures came from the cantons of Zurich (24,503) and Berne (14,204), while the Graubünden residents only contributed 646 signatures. At the national level, the Lia Naira worked together with the "Comité Rheinau", which had similar objectives on the Upper Rhine as the Lia Naira on the Inn and Spöl.
Result of the referendum
In the federal referendum of December 7, 1958, a majority of 75.2% of voters and all 25 cantons (at that time still excluding the canton of Jura ) voted in favor of the state treaty with Italy on the use of the Spöl and thus against the goals of the Lia Naira. In Graubünden, too, a majority of 88.2% of voters voted for the State Treaty and against the Lia Naira. The only Swiss municipality that rejected the State Treaty in the vote was the Lower Engadine municipality of Sent , but only one sixth of the Engadine voters voted in favor of the Lia Naira.
resolution
After the vote in December 1958, the Lia Naira withdrew the popular initiative to preserve the national park and disbanded.
The construction of the dam for Lake Livigno began in 1962, the inauguration of the electricity works took place in 1971. Today, the tunnel network extends over 47 km as the crow flies from S-chanf in the Upper Engadine to Martina in the Lower Engadine on the border with Austria .
literature
- David Truttmann: The other voice from the Lower Engadine. The Lia Naira and its resistance to the construction of the Engadine power plants . Dissertation Zurich, 2009.
Web links
- “What is the Lia Naira?” - “What does the Lia Naira want?” Text by David Truttmann. On the ETH technology history website
- Lia Naira in the Lexicon Istoric Retic (Rhaeto-Romanic)
Individual evidence
- ^ Mevina Puorger: Luisa Famos. To the songs of the Ramoscher Schwalbe. In: Bündner Jahrbuch. 53, 2011. p. 71 ( doi : 10.5167 / uzh-45274 ).
- ↑ According to Reto Mengiardi, President of the Board of Directors of Engadiner Kraftwerke AG. In: La renovaziun dals implants: La prosma sfida. In: La Quotidiana . February 28, 2012.
- ↑ David Truttmann: The other voice from the Lower Engadine. The Lia Naira and its resistance to the construction of the Engadine power plants . Dissertation. Zurich 2009.
- ↑ Parishes demonstrate with abstention. In: Engadiner Post . March 4, 2008 (PDF; 3.0 MB).
- ↑ Annual reports of the Federal National Park Commission 1957.
- ↑ a b c Cun patos e poesias cunter ovras. In: La Quotidiana . July 3, 2009.
- ^ Wording of the popular initiative on the website of the Swiss Federal Administration, accessed on April 13, 2014.
- ^ Jean-Daniel Delley: L'initiative populaire en Suisse, mythe et réalité de la démocratie directe. 1978. Edition L'Age d'homme, Lausanne, ISBN 978-2825129920 .
- ^ Report of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on the referendum on the conservation of the Swiss National Park , 23 May 1958.
- ^ Results of the vote on December 7, 1958 at Swissvotes .
- ↑ SwissTopo and Google Earth, accessed on April 14, 2014.
