On December 3, four workers organizations in the southern manufacturing hubs of Guangzhou and Foshan came under attack from Chinese authorities. Dozens of staff, family members, and affiliated workers were questioned, and seven remained in custody for over a month. Four have now been formally charged: three of them for “assembling a crowd to disrupt social order” and one for “embezzlement.”

Little more is known about the detainees. While a group of sixty lawyers volunteered to represent the activists, they’ve been barred from meeting their potential clients. In the meantime, the state media has unleashed a harsh smear campaign aimed at destroying the activists’ personal and professional reputations and legitimating the crackdown.

The crackdown didn’t come from nowhere. Labor groups and activists in China are regularly subjected to state repression and harassment. What sets the current sweep apart are the number of workers organizations (or labor NGOs, as some call them) and individuals targeted, and the severity of the criminal charges they are facing. The Chinese state’s goal is to stifle these and other workers organizations through humiliation and fear.