在黑暗時代期待啟明
──關注巨流傳媒及銅鑼灣書店連續「失蹤」事件聲明
自2015年10月起,巨流傳媒總經理呂波、股東桂民海、業務經理張志平、銅鑼灣書店店長林榮基與銅鑼灣書店股東李波等五人,先後於深圳、東莞、泰國與香港等地「失蹤」。據報導,李波及其餘失蹤者懷疑遭綁架回中國大陸境內。我們對此作出嚴正抗議,要求香港當局徹查事件,並確保公民在境內的人身安全、保障香港出版自由。
在過去數十年,資訊在香港自由流通,無有阻礙,不同政治背景人士在香港均受香港法律保障其人身安全,是故有不少涉及中國大陸敏感題材的出版社及媒體,均選擇以香港作為基地,以策安全,而歷來被中國大陸列為禁書的出版品,也在香港暢通無阻。然而近日在港接連發生與政治出版有關的出版業和書店人士無故消失、疑似於香港境內遭綁架離境,至今仍然下落不明,對此我們深感憂憤,認為此舉不僅視香港法治如無物,更使香港出版界瀰漫著恐怖的氣氛,威脅香港的出版自由,並損害香港作為自由和安全之港之名。
中共黨媒《環球時報》於2016年1月4日指出,銅鑼灣書店的出版插足並損害內地利益,斥指這是「有罪於整個國家,也是對香港根本利益的背叛」,威脅香港出版界噤聲於政治敏感題材的出版物,實質上,自回歸以來,已非首次收窄香港言論及出版自由,2005年程翔因涉嫌間諜罪被北京市國家安全局逮捕;2014年《明報》前總編輯劉進圖遇襲、晨鐘書局老闆姚文田亦疑因出版禁書,而被當局誘至深圳拘捕,並羅織走私罪名判監十年,可見香港的出版自由,只會因中共日益嚴厲的粗暴干預而更見黑暗。
我們要求:
1. 香港警方繼續全力徹查事件,公佈失蹤真相;
2. 要求立法會文化界代表馬逢國、民政局局長劉江華關注一連串事件,保障有關言論自由的法例得以貫徹實施;
3. 香港政府承諾保障香港公民境內安全及出版自由。
極權政府打壓個體的自由與權利,散播白色恐怖,世所共譴。正如漢娜阿倫特在《黑暗時代的人們》所言:「即使是在最黑暗的時代中,我們也有權去期待一種啟明」。我們將無懼白色恐怖,竭力秉持出版自由的信念,在任何恐嚇、威迫、壓制下絕不動搖,捍衛香港繼續成為安全之地,自由之港。
發起團體(筆劃序):
dirty press 文化工房 文化界監察暴力行動組 字花 字蝨 序言書室 香港文學館 映畫手民 圓桌精英 溯源書社 實現會社
獨立媒體(香港)
05/01/2016
Expecting illumination in the darkest of times: a declaration concerning the recent ‘disappearances’ of Mighty Current and Causeway Bay Books
Since October 2015, Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current’s general manager Lui Bo, owner Gui Minhai, business manager Cheung Jiping, and Causeway Bay Books’s store manager Lam Wing Kei and shareholder Lee Bo have disappeared in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Thailand and Hong Kong successively under mysterious circumstances. Various news reports have alleged that Lee Bo and the other four have been abducted and taken to Mainland China. We strongly protest against such action, and we urge Hong Kong authorities to investigate into the case thoroughly, to ensure the personal safety of its citizens against foreign agents or law-enforcers and to defend the freedom of the press in Hong Kong.
In the past few decades, information has always flowed freely within Hong Kong without any interference. People of different political backgrounds were equally protected by the law; publications banned in China are circulated freely within Hong Kong. For these reasons, many publishers and media that tackle politically sensitive issues have chosen Hong Kong as their base. Yet it has not escaped notice that the five people who disappeared recently were all involved in publishing and distributing books deemed politically sensitive by China. Their whereabouts are as yet unknown, and one of them was even suspected to have been abducted within Hong Kong. We are deeply indignant about the incident as the culprits are trampling over the law of Hong Kong, and through their action are cultivating a climate of terror among practitioners in the publishing industry. They are indeed threatening Hong Kong’s freedom of expression and of the press and jeopardising Hong Kong’s reputation as a free and safe city.
Global Times, a newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, pointed out on 4 January 2016 that the publications of Causeway Bay Books harm the interest of China. They denounce its practice as “guilty towards the entire nation, and constitutes a betrayal against the fundamental interests of Hong Kong.” This in effect amounts to a threat towards Hong Kong’s publishing industry. In fact, it is not the first time that China has tightened its control over Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and of the press since the transfer of sovereignty in 1997: in 2005 Ching Cheong was arrested by Beijing State Security Bureau under charges of espionage; in 2014 Kevin Lau Chun To, former editor-in-chief of Ming Pao, was stabbed and critically injured; also in 2014 Yiu Man Tin, chief editor of Morning Bell Press and publisher of banned books, was lured to Shenzhen and arrested there by Chinese authorities. Yiu was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for smuggling. It is clear that freedom of the press in Hong Kong will face a dismal future because of the increasingly brutal intervention by the Chinese government.
We demand the following:
1. Hong Kong Police should investigate this incident thoroughly, and should publicly announce the truth behind the disappearances.
2. Ma Fung-kwok, the representative of the cultural sector in the Legislative Council, and Lau Kong-wah, the Secretary of Home Affairs, should express concern about the incident and ensure the implementation of laws related to freedom of speech in Hong Kong.
3. The Hong Kong government should commit to the protection of the personal safety and freedom of the press of citizens within the jurisdiction of Hong Kong.
Totalitarian regimes will always be widely denounced for spreading fear and oppressing the freedom and rights of individuals. As Hannah Arendt wrote in Men in Dark Times, ‘even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination.’ We are fearless in face of oppression. We will do our utmost to uphold the belief in freedom of the press and will not waver under any intimidation or coercion, thus doing our part in defending Hong Kong as a place of safety and harbour of freedom.
Initiated by:
Aco艺鵠
Cinezen映畫手民
The Coming Society實現會社
Culture Plus文化工房
dirty press
Fleurs des lettres字花
Fountainhead Books溯源書社
Hong Kong Readers Bookstore序言書室
Hong Kong In-Media獨立媒體(香港)
Hong Kong Shield文化界監察暴力行動組
The House of Hong Kong Literature香港文學館
Independent Chinese PEN Center獨立中文筆會
Kritik字蝨
Renaissance Foundation文藝復興基金會
Roundtable Synergy Books圓桌精英
05/01/2016