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Join the author, Joe Pillay, at the Canadian launch of his debut book "Taking Up the Spear: Shadrack Maphumulo's Struggle Against Apartheid" at Paper Birch Books. With the support of local poets Peter Midgley and Alice Major, we're pleased to welcome South African anti-apartheid activist Joe Pillay as he launches his book Taking Up the Spear: Shadrack Maphumulo's Struggle Against Apartheid (Daraja Press). Joe's biography not only highlights the importance of ordinary people in the historic anti-apartheid struggle, but holds enduring lessons in the era we witness of resurgent white supremacist, fascist, and far-right ideologies. Come join us for an evening of readings, conversation, and celebration of this important work.
Doors at 6pm, launch starts at 6.30pm. Drinks (coffee, tea, beer, and wine) available for purchase from our in-house coffee bar.
About the author: Dhayiah (Joe) Pillay was born in 1945 in Durban, South Africa. Joe has been living in Alberta since 1985, mostly in Edmonton where he lives with his Canadian wife. He is a South African anti-apartheid activist and the author of Taking Up the Spear. Living as a refugee in exile in Swaziland in 1983, Pillay was a fellow traveller in the liberation struggle and an active member of the ANC's underground network. He wrote and recorded Shadrack Maphumulo's stories over several weeks, driven by the belief that the sacrifices of ordinary people needed to be told to inspire greater awareness of the struggle against apartheid.
About the book: Taking Up the Spear is the firsthand account of Shadrack Maphumulo, an ordinary South African who becomes a freedom fighter against apartheid. The narrative traces his life from a rural Zulu childhood, shaped by stories of the Bhambatha Rebellion, to his early working years in Durban where he faces systemic racism, slave wages, and the humiliating pass laws. His entrepreneurial dreams—first a taxi, then a shop—are systematically crushed by a white supremacist government that reserves prosperity for whites, forcing him to realize that individual effort cannot overcome the oppressive system.
Radicalized, Maphumulo joins the trade union movement SACTU and later the banned ANC and its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Joe details Shadrack’s rudimentary training in sabotage and participates in several missions, including bombing an Afrikaner newspaper office and attacking municipal beer halls. Arrested in 1963, he endures brutal torture and solitary confinement before being sentenced to ten years on Robben Island, where political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, were incarcerated. On the island, Shadrack tells of the horrific conditions, daily beatings, and hunger strikes, but also the political education and solidarity among prisoners. After his release in 1975, he resumes underground work, leading to another arrest, torture, and banning. The story ends with his escape into exile in Swaziland, where he continues the struggle. The epilogue reveals his assassination by South African security forces in 1986, cementing his legacy as a hero who sacrificed everything for a free South Africa.
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10825 95 St NW, Edmonton, AB T5H 2E2, Canada
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