MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Local grad student and part-time zine distributor Talia Redfern, 27, has informed her landlord that she will no longer be paying rent “as an act of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle”, tying her Minneapolis studio apartment directly to the Israeli occupation of Gaza in a 1,500-word Instagram post accompanied by a black square and a Assata Shakur quote.
Her landlord, Doug Halvorsen, 64, who rented out his old duplex so he could move in with his elderly mother and cover her rising assisted living costs, said he was “not totally sure what any of this has to do with me.”
“I’m not, like… a government,” Doug said, visibly confused. “I just charge her $900 a month, which didn’t even cover the my mortgage and utilities in February.”
According to lease records, Talia got a “great deal” on the apartment, which Doug has kept below market rate because he “liked her enthusiasm” and thought she “deserved a break while finishing school.”
That goodwill collapsed after Talia emailed Doug a PDF titled “Rent as Colonization: From Sheikh Jarrah to Uptown” and informed him that continuing to send her invoices would be considered “deeply violent.”
“She said I was extracting labor value from her existence,” Doug said. “She works at a co-op bookstore and vapes on the porch. I’m not sure what I’m extracting.”
In a video shared to her 214 followers, Talia said withholding rent is part of her “contribution to dismantling global systems of oppression,” and that “landlords are the local arm of empire.”
When asked if she’d resume payment once a ceasefire was reached, she clarified: “This is about liberation. Material conditions must shift. And also I’m kinda between freelance gigs right now.”
At press time, Doug was seen asking his lawyer if “the dialectic” was a legitimate legal reason to stop paying rent.
