On November 15 2017, an ongoing reading group organised by a group of university students and recent graduates in a classroom of the Guangdong University of Technology was cracked down by local police. 6 participants were seized, among which Ye Jianke and Zhang Yunfan were later locked up as criminal suspects.

Zhang Yunfan was first accused of involving in “illegal business operations”, but later taken under police custody in the Panyu Detention Centre for “gathering crowds to disrupt social order”.
The police also stormed into the residence of Zheng Yongming and Sun Tingting, who are also organisers of the reading group and labour activists, and then put them under criminal detention on December 5 and 8 respectively.

In an open letter released by Zhang Yunfan on January 15 2017, he mentions that the June 4^th incident in 1989 was discussed during the reading group session.
The open letter also reveals that that 4 persons (Zhang Yunfan, Ye Jianke, Zheng Yongming and Sun Tingting) are in fact released on bail for a pending trial.
Yet 4 other people including Xu Zhongliang, Huang Liping, Han Peng and Gu Jiayue are still wanted as criminal suspects.

The incident has drawn widespread public attention.

Last month, more than 400 academics, students and social activists with political stances from across the spectrum initiated a petition in support of Zhang Yunfan and the others. Under confinement and police threat, Zhang Yunfan could do little but compromise, but the open letter written after his release demonstrates that he still sticks to his principles by telling the truth and making his experience known to the public.

Meanwhile, Sun Tingting and Zheng Yongming also wrote against the police actions.
Their public outcry against the crackdown and support from people with different ideological stances demonstrate the courage of Chinese citizens to speak out despite the increasingly oppressive political environment in China.

The unjustified detention of Zhang Yunfan and others does not simply affect their rights of organising read groups and concern about labour issues on campus, but also pose a threat to the freedom of speech and other basic civil rights of all Chinese citizens.
If merely discussing social affairs in a reading group is so abruptly oppressed, is it still possible for ordinary citizens – particularly workers and peasants – to enjoy freedoms of speech and other sorts in any case?
Is it still possible to defend their rights with the freedom of speech and association?

Zhang Yunfan and Zheng Yongming position themselves as left-leaning who remain “loyal to the working class and faithful to Marxism”, and they do show compassion towards workers and the subaltern.
Apart from organising readings groups, other left-leaning young people are involved in the production of a recently published investigative report on the working conditions of support workers in Peking University, as well as other community activities to “help underprivileged workers and peasants at the bottom of society to live with dignity”.

In China nowadays, their persistent concern about welfare of the underprivileged and critical edge on social injustice is rare and respectable.
The fact that they are oppressed in this way reveals how the Chinese government actually sides against the working class.

We support the freedom of speech for Zhang Yunfan and the others, and protest against unjustified arrest and detention, even though we are not necessarily in line with the Maoist perspectives that they believe in.
For instance, we do not endorse the judgement of some Maoists on the rule of Mao and their conservative view on democracy.
We believe that the left wing should advocate for an authentic democratic system, under which the working class manage to seek political authority on the basis of political freedom (including the freedom to form different political parties), transcend the despotism of the capitalist class and state bureaucracy, and progressively establish a truly egalitarian and peaceful society without class distinction and exploitation.

We are open to public debates or even criticising the Maoist stances, but we are strongly against dismissing anyone’s rights to discuss social issues and express political views freely.
We remain respectful to the left-leaning students and young people, who sincerely persist on advocating for the wellbeing of the masses in this authoritarian regime but still suffer in this incident.
Real democracy and socialism will not be achieved without the freedom of speech and other civil liberties.
We call for the attention of citizens in Hong Kong and Taiwan to the development of this incident. Transregional solidarity with students and workers from mainland China striving for political freedom is of utmost importance to terminate the oppression of the Chinese Communist regime on all citizens, and to free civil liberties from threat in all regions.
Organising reading groups is not a crime. Discussing the June Fourth Movement is not a crime. Oppression is not justifiable.

We strongly urge for:

– Unconditional revocation of charges of Zhang Yunfan, Sun Tingting, Zheng Yongming and Ye Jianke; discontinuation of searching for Xu Zhongliang, Huang Liping, Han Peng and Gu Jiayue.
– Immediate access to freedoms of speech and publication nationwide;
– release of all political prisoners; prohibition of unlawful detention which oppresses the freedom of speech, so that everyone enjoys the right to express their views freely.
– Immediate access to the freedom of association, so that workers are able to organise independent from monitoring and control;
– an end to the one-party rule to give room to free competition among independently organised political parties;
– a representative body of all citizens with universal suffrage;
– a democratic political system and functional legal system to protect civil rights of all citizens.
– disciplinary measures on the Panyu Police Bureau for unlawfully detaining Zhang Yunfan and the others.
– rectification of social problems and a just society.

團體聯署名單 / LIST OF COSIGNATORIES

左翼21
街工勞工組
工學同行
工黨
社會民主連線
支聯會
學聯社會運動資源中心（自治八樓）
無國界社運
華人民主書院
香港眾志
社會主義行動
台大大新社
台大大陸社
TIWA台灣國際勞工協會（台灣）
全國關廠工人連線（台灣）
紅氣球編委會
香港職工會聯盟
International Labour Defense
宜蘭產業總工會

2017年11月15號晚，一群青年、學生在廣州廣東工業大學教室內參與自發進行的讀書會時，廣州番禺警方到場帶走四名廣東工業大學學生和兩名青年。兩名青年（即葉建科和張雲帆）隨後被刑事拘留。其中張雲帆先被指涉及「非法經營罪」，到正式刑拘時換成了「聚眾擾亂社會秩序罪」，並被關在番禺看守所。12月5號及8號晚，警察分別闖入讀書會組織者、勞工關注者鄭永明、孫婷婷的住所捉人，作刑事拘留。到1月15號傍晚，張雲帆發表了自白書，除了提到被拘當晚的讀書會有提及「八九六四」外，更揭露了四人（即張雲帆本人、葉建科、鄭永明和孫婷婷）現時是「取保候審」；另外徐忠良、黃理平、韓鵬和顧佳悅四位青年則被「網上追逃」。
此事已在中國大陸引起廣泛關注。上月逾400名左右派不同思想傾向的學者、學生及社運份子已聯署聲援張雲帆等人。而張雲帆雖然曾在公安禁閉及威脅下一度妥協，但他取保候審後寫出自白書，表示不改初心，誓言要「迎頭面對！說出真相，再不妥協」。同時，孫婷婷和鄭永明亦發出公開信抗議公安的行徑。三人勇於反抗和跨意識形態人士的挺身支持，正表示了中國人民在愈來愈高壓的政治環境下沒有選擇噤聲，仍然勇於表達不滿。
這次張雲帆等人被無理逮捕，決不僅僅是影響他們舉辦讀書會及關心大學勞工的活動權利的問題，其實也是全中國人民能否享有言論自由和其他基本權利的問題。如果連組織讀書會討論一下國事都要受到那麼粗暴的壓制，普通人民，尤其是工人和農民，還有可能享有言論自由和其他的自由嗎？還可以通過言論和結社自由去維權嗎？
張雲帆和鄭永明等青年自詡為「忠於勞動人民，信仰馬克思主義」的左派，同情工人和底層人民。今次被打壓的左派青年除了辦讀書會，亦有人參與了《北大後勤工人調研報告——被忽視的群體》的調查和撰寫，也有人參與「幫助社會最底層的工農群眾有尊嚴地生活」的公益活動。在今天的中國大陸仍然堅持對社會底層的關懷，更對社會不平等加以批判，他們的情操和行動是難得的和可敬的。而他們如此受到打壓，也正好揭露了今天的中國政府根本就是站在勞動人民的對立面。
我們支持張雲帆等人的言論自由，反對中共當局無理逮捕和關押，並不表示我們也支持張雲帆所信仰的「毛左派」的政治主張的內容。例如一些毛左派對毛澤東時代的評價和對政治民主化的保守態度，就不會是我們認同的。我們認為，真正的左派應該是爭取一種更高級的、真正的民主制度，讓勞動人民能夠在擁有政治自由（包括組織不同政黨的自由）的前提下掌握到政治權力，打破資產階級和國家官僚的專制，並逐步建造一種沒有階級、沒有剝削的真正平等、和諧的新社會。不過，儘管我們並不贊同「毛左派」的主張，但我們只會公開商榷甚而至於批評他們這些主張，卻絕不會同意取消或打壓他們應有的討論社會問題和表達政見的權利。我們同時尊敬那些真誠的毛左派 -如今次受害的學生和青年們- 於極權國度中為貧苦百姓發聲、為工農群眾服務的堅持。
沒有言論自由和其他政治自由，就沒有真正的民主，也不會有真正的社會主義。我們呼籲港、台普羅市民應起而關注今次事件，認清港、台普羅市民與中國大陸的青年學生和勞動者休戚與共，必須得團結一致爭取徹底的政治自由，才能終結中共政權對大陸及各地人民的壓迫，實現民主和平等的中國，並確保港、台各地民主權利不再受到極權中共的威脅。

舉辦讀書會無罪！討論六四無罪！壓制無理！我們嚴正要求：

1. 立即無條件撤銷張雲帆、孫婷婷、鄭永明、葉建科等青年的控罪，停止搜捕徐忠良、黃理平、韓鵬、顧佳悅；

2. 立即全面開放言論、出版等基本自由；釋放所有政治犯；禁止以任何藉口打壓人民言論自由和施行非法拘禁，讓所有人都享有公開自由表達的權利；

3. 立即全面開放集會結社自由、工人得以組織不受監控的自主工會；廢除一黨專政，讓人民自由組織政黨自由競爭；召開普選全權的全國人民代表會議，建立民主政制和保障人民自由的法制；

4. 嚴懲無理逮捕張雲帆等青年的廣州番禺公安局相關人員；

5. 正視社會問題，還人民公義社會。