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The last colony : a tale of exile, justice, and courage / Philippe Sands.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First American editionDescription: x, 203 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
  • cartographic image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780593535097
  • 059353509X
Subject(s):
Contents:
Prologue: 'La Cour!' -- Part one. 1945 : Newfoundland -- Deportation -- Peros Banhos -- Liseby, 1953 -- Part two. 1966 : Resolution 1514 -- South West Africa -- Separation -- Liseby, 1973 -- Part three. 1984 : Camp Justice -- The Sea -- Nicaragua -- Madame Elyse, 1984 -- September 11th -- Part four. 2003 : Madame Elyse, 2006 -- Men Fridays -- Istanbul -- New York -- Resolution 71/292 -- Part five. 2019 : The election -- The pleadings -- Madame Elyse, 2018 -- La Cour! -- The Ruling -- Return to New York -- Epilogue: Bleu de Nimes -- February 2022 -- Postscript: 2023 : Spring 2023.
Summary: "An account of the making of modern international law and one woman's fight for justice"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: In 1973, on the Chagos Islands off the coast of Africa, Liseby Elyse-- twenty years old, newly married and four months pregnant-- was rounded up, along with the entire population of Chagos, and ordered to pack her belongings and leave her homeland by ship or slowly starve. Some two thousand people who had lived on the islands of Chagos for generations, many the direct descendants of enslaved people brought there from Mozambique and Madagascar in the 18th century by the French and British, were deported overnight from their island paradise as the result of a secret decision by the British government to provide the United States with land to construct a military base in the Indian Ocean. When the case reaches the World Court in the Hague, the star witness was Liseby Elyse, now sixty-five years old, speaking in Kreol to tell the fourteen international judges her story of forced exile. Sands writes of Elyse's decades-long quest-- and his own journey-- to fight for justice and a free and fair return to the land of their birth. -- adapted from jacket
List(s) this item appears in: Women's History Month (Adults)
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 969.7 S221 Available 33111011221500
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The moving, inspiring David-and-Goliath true story of freedom and justice involving one tiny nation in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, and the extraordinary woman, a descendant of slaves, who dared to take on the Crown and the United Kingdom--and win a historic victory

In 1973, on the Chagos Islands off the coast of Africa, Liseby Elyse--twenty years old, newly married and four months pregnant--was, rounded up, along with the entire population of Chagos, and ordered to pack her belongings and leave her beloved homeland by ship or slowly starve; the British had cut off all food supplies.
Some two thousand people who had lived on the islands of Chagos for generations, many the direct descendants of enslaved people brought there from Mozambique and Madagascar in the 18th century by the French and British, were deported overnight from their island paradise as the result of a secret decision by the British government to provide the United States with land to construct a military base in the Indian Ocean.
For four decades the government of Mauritius fought for the return of Chagos. Three decades into the battle, Philippe Sands became the lead lawyer in the case, designing its legal strategy and assembling a team of lawyers from Mauritius, Belgium, India, Ukraine, and the U.S.
When the case finally reached the World Court in the Hague, Sands chose as the star witness the diminutive Liseby Elyse, now sixty-five years old, and instructed her to appear before the court, speaking in Kreol, to tell the fourteen international judges her story of forced exile. The fate of Chagos rested on her testimony.
The judges faced a landmark decision: Would they rule that Britain illegally detached Chagos from Mauritius? Would Liseby Elyse sway the judges and open the door, allowing her and her fellow Chagossians to return home--or would they remain exiled forever?
Philippe Sands writes of his own journey into international law and that of the World Court in the Hague, and of the extraordinary decades-long quest of Liseby Elyse, and the people of Chagos, in their fight for justice and a free and fair return to the idyllic land of their birth.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"An account of the making of modern international law and one woman's fight for justice"-- Provided by publisher.

Prologue: 'La Cour!' -- Part one. 1945 : Newfoundland -- Deportation -- Peros Banhos -- Liseby, 1953 -- Part two. 1966 : Resolution 1514 -- South West Africa -- Separation -- Liseby, 1973 -- Part three. 1984 : Camp Justice -- The Sea -- Nicaragua -- Madame Elyse, 1984 -- September 11th -- Part four. 2003 : Madame Elyse, 2006 -- Men Fridays -- Istanbul -- New York -- Resolution 71/292 -- Part five. 2019 : The election -- The pleadings -- Madame Elyse, 2018 -- La Cour! -- The Ruling -- Return to New York -- Epilogue: Bleu de Nimes -- February 2022 -- Postscript: 2023 : Spring 2023.

In 1973, on the Chagos Islands off the coast of Africa, Liseby Elyse-- twenty years old, newly married and four months pregnant-- was rounded up, along with the entire population of Chagos, and ordered to pack her belongings and leave her homeland by ship or slowly starve. Some two thousand people who had lived on the islands of Chagos for generations, many the direct descendants of enslaved people brought there from Mozambique and Madagascar in the 18th century by the French and British, were deported overnight from their island paradise as the result of a secret decision by the British government to provide the United States with land to construct a military base in the Indian Ocean. When the case reaches the World Court in the Hague, the star witness was Liseby Elyse, now sixty-five years old, speaking in Kreol to tell the fourteen international judges her story of forced exile. Sands writes of Elyse's decades-long quest-- and his own journey-- to fight for justice and a free and fair return to the land of their birth. -- adapted from jacket

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