A Fleeting Moment in My Country

The Last Years of the LTTE De-Facto State

by N. Malathy, Clarity Press, US & Canada, available September 30, 2012

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

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 realpolitikconcerns 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.

Isolated in their struggle and condemned by world opinion, the Liberation  Tigers of Tamil Eelam (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 its 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        
End notes        

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 Eelam (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 the 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 the 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 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.

Available for advance sale at

http://www.claritypress.com/Malathy-Tamil.html
and 
http://www.amazon.com/Fleeting-Moment-My-Country-De-Facto/dp/0984525548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342034377&sr=8-1&keywords=N+Malathy

A Tamil version will be out in Chennai by the end of the year.