OXÄ. Uri’s Wild Years After 1968

The book project ‘OXÄ’ relates the events of 1968 and stormy years thereafter in the context of Switzerland’s mountain areas. It includes source-based research and interviews with eyewitnesses from that period. OXÄ complements existing historic research, confirming that new social movements and green parties do not always arise in urban areas but also in the so-called Swiss ‘periphery’. The inhabitants of Switzerland’s mountain cantons thus help shape contemporary political events.

The story is told through the prism of the Ochsen restaurant in Altdorf. Ochsen was an unconventional 1960s pub where, irrespective of social class, people from all horizons would meet to exchange ideas, smoke and listen to music. This predisposed Ochsen to becoming fertile breeding grounds for the ‘student uprisings’ of 1973, the Alternative and ‘Uri Critical Forum’. In short, Ochsen was for the 1968 awakening in Uri.

As non-fiction book, OXÄ casts a spotlight on that eventful era via the testimonies of role players from leftist and alternative circles in Uri. Since Switzerland’s ‘1968’ was an awakening based in countrywide networks, the book tracks the role players’ networks in and outside of the canton, to Zurich, the Grisons and the Valais. Serving as record for the recollections of that time, OXÄ is a reference work based on historic eyewitness accounts.

The Canton of Uri’s Lottery Fund, the Otto Gamma Foundation and Uri Corporation financially support the project.