Martha Kuwee Kumsa

Martha Kuwee Kumsa is a siinqee feminist and professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, specialising in Oromo culture and cultural and immigrant identity. She is of Oromo origin and was detained without charges and tortured from 1980 to 1989, following the Ethiopian Red Terror, for her journalistic activities promoting Oromo women's rights. In late 2020, Martha objected to media misrepresentation of the Hachalu Hundessa riots and what she saw as wave of repression by federal authorities against Oromos.

Quotes

• It’s amazing how the brain works and the body responds
  • [1]
• We climbed trees running for cover, thinking that they were going to bomb us, But instead it was pamphlets that rained down, a sign the new military government wanted the protesting students on its side. “It was one of the most exciting moments for me,”
  • [2]
• The future seemed vibrant. It was the best time of our lives
  • [3]
• When you hear your name, you have to jump and run. If it’s death, you run to death. And if it’s release, it’s freedom you are running to.”
  • [4]