.

    AUTHOR

    N. Malathy is member of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora and a
    naturalised New Zealand citizen who has lived in New Zealand for
    four decades. She holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the
    University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where she has worked as
    an analyst and programmer. She has written extensively on the
    human rights situation in Sri Lanka and also translated a short novel
    set in the Vanni context which has been accepted for publication by
    Penguin India. She spent four years in Sri Lanka, in the Vanni
    District under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam
    (LTTE), from 2005 till 2009, a period marked by the gradual
    weakening of the 2002 Norwegian brokered ceasefire, which
    eventually led to the brutal war in which LTTE was defeated and its
    leadership killed or imprisoned. During this period she worked in
    many institutions, including a human rights body, a women’s
    organization, and an orphanage. Her experiences spanned working
    with LTTE to release child soldiers, preparing documentation for
    peace talks for the same body, documenting human rights
    violations by the Sri Lankan military and working on a project to
    raise awareness of domestic violence.

    Radha d’Souza (LLB (University of Mumbai) and PhD (Geography and
    Law, University of Auckland). practiced as a barrister in the High
    Court of Bombay and taught at the Universities of Auckland and
    Waikato in New Zealand and presently teaches Public International
    Law and Development at the University of Westminster

    SYNOPSIS

    Little is known about the Tamil liberation cause and struggle, as it has been
    widely dismissed by global powers of all persuasions—the USA, Russia,
    China and India—each driven by their own realpolitik concerns and self-
    interests. This book, written by a Diaspora Tamil engaged in human rights
    work in the Tamil-controlled area of Vanni up until it was overrun by Sri
    Lankan forces, provides a compelling insider’s look at the motivations,
    issues and complexities of this largely secret civil war; the entire text is
    based on first hand observation and includes sociological insights based
    on these first hand observations.

    Isolatd in their struggle and condemned by world opinion, the Liberation
    Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) nonetheless proved capable of withstanding
    all external forces for a period of decades, drawing large numbers of
    Tamils, both inside Sri Lanka and outside in the Tamil Diaspora, to support
    tits cause.

    The LTTE created a progressive internal movement that succeeded in
    breaking down ancient caste barriers that had resisted the political
    inducements and leadership of figures such as Gandhi, and inculcated a
    climate of social justice and equality.

    This book describes what life was like on the ground inside Tamil-
    controlled territory where the forces of war were held at bay—what the
    author has referred to in the title of this book as "The Fleeting Moment...".

    What followed was a process of the destruction of everything that she
    described  when it was overrun by the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil
    genocide began.  

    "Can the readers who did not experience this imagine
    what it is like to watch the complete destruction of one’s
    country: the physical destruction, the destruction of the
    governance structures, the complete dispersal of its
    people, and massacres on a massive scale? Has there
    ever been such complete destruction of a country in
    history? The only reason why it is not seen as such is
    because my country was only in the minds of its people,
    but was not recognized by the global system of
    states."        N. Malathy


    TABLE OF CONTENTS


    Spelling Tamil words        
    Glossary        
    Map        
    Preface by Radha d'Souza
    Girl in makkal thodarpakam        
    Castaway children        
    Janani and Senchoolai        
    Rituals        
    NESoHR’s Clients        
    Documentation        
    Vanni media        
    Educating peace makers        
    Child soldiers        
    Debates on society        
    Women’s liberation Vanni-style        
    Vanni social space        
    Consolidation during ceasefire        
    The slow walk to Mullivaikaal        
    The internment camps       
    No nation is an island        
    Appendix: A brief note on Tamil history        
    Endnotes        

A FLEETING MOMENT IN MY COUNTRY
The Last Years of the LTTE De-Facto State
by  N. Malathy
Foreword by Radha d/Souza

ISBN: 978-0-9845255-4-6
$19.95 / / 2012

FOR ORDERS OUTSIDE US/CANADA:

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EBOOK:  ISBN 978-0-9845255-5-3
$16.00
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