[2][3] 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.

She described the scene on arrival as including people on the floor, "bleeding from their mouths, [with] disfigured [faces] and pus ooz[ing] from wounds," and an "overpowering stench".

She was asked by resistance groups to participate in training camps,[3] and conscripted by the authorities into joining governmental forces.

Unknown to Martha, Leenco had survived, and in 1991 helped to negotiate the transition to power by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

She lived in Waterloo, where she did freelance writing and obtained a teaching position at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2002,[2] later becoming a full professor.

[5] Leenco was ineligible for Canadian citizenship because of his role in armed opposition in the OLF, and moved to Norway in August 2005.

[5] In November 2020, Martha expressed concern about anti-Oromo misinformation and the risk of Ethiopia returning to an assimilationist centralised stated dominated by Amhara ethnic nationalism.

Bontu and Martha argued that the Qeerroo and Qarree (young Oromo women) non-violent grassroots movements were misrepresented as "extremists and terrorists".

[4] Martha criticised the pan-Ethiopian feminist Sehin Teferra for "categorical[ly] associat[es]" the Qeerroo with violence.

Martha sees the Qeeroos and Qarrees as peaceful protestors that helped overthrow the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).