Fra Hughes, a Belfast-born activist and author of Kidnapped on the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza 2026, grew up during the Troubles in 1960s–70s North Belfast—a world of armed British soldiers on the streets, sectarian division, and, as a teenager, a near-abduction by loyalist paramilitaries, the Shankill Butchers.

His political awakening came through the 1981 hunger strikes and Bobby Sands' election, the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, and later Israel's 2008–09 Operation Cast Lead and the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid, which killed nine activists including Furkan Dogan. The Marmara attack pushed him into direct action: he founded Belfast Friends of Palestine, sourced a wheelchair-accessible minibus via eBay, and joined George Galloway's Viva Palestina medical convoy to Gaza in 2010, delivering it to a hospital.

He later co-founded Palestine Aid Ireland, a volunteer-run charity that has funded solar panels, university scholarships, and—since October 2023—sourced roughly 320,000 meals inside Gaza (around $180,000), along with winter clothing and hygiene supplies. The charity has no offices or paid staff, ensuring every donation reaches Gaza directly through trusted local contacts, including his patron Dr Saeb Shaath.

Fra Hughes, a Belfast-born activist and author of Kidnapped on the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza 2026, secured a place on the 2026 Global Sumud Flotilla after an earlier attempt in 2025 ended when his boat's engine failed near Crete. He sailed for 50 days—from 5 April to 24 May 2026—aboard the yacht Diablo with an international crew that included a former RAF fighter pilot turned captain.

About 600 miles from Gaza, Israeli forces began intercepting dozens of boats. Hughes broadcast a Mayday before soldiers boarded at gunpoint, zip-tied him, and transferred detainees to a warship. There, they were held barefoot in a shipping container, sprayed with water, and denied food—which he refused in solidarity with starving Gazans.

Taken to Keziot prison, he was strip-searched, forced into stress positions, and handcuffed with deliberately tightened cuffs that caused lasting nerve damage. Eleven times he refused to sign a voluntary deportation order, demanding consular access instead. He witnessed fellow detainees with broken bones and heard accounts of sexual abuse.

After roughly 36 hours, he was deported via Istanbul, reaching Belfast on 24–25 May to a welcome from family and press. He closes by urging listeners toward boycott, education, and continued solidarity with Palestine.

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 Bambatha 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). He details his 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. On the island, he details 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.