Open letter from China's Communist elders regarding free speech

[HEyHEY]

http://cmp.hku.hk/2010/10/13/8035/

Wow.

[DonCoquixote]

1. How many of these people

Will be dead soon?

[HEyHEY]

2. Don't know, but it will hold some sway in opinion

[DonCoquixote]

7. I'd like to agree with you

But I cannot. The irony is, China, being a communist nation, will wind up aping and reinforcing the worst aspects of Capitalist nations, including the idea of "I've got mine, screw you" and "why should we care what a bunch of hippies have to say about free speech?"

[HEyHEY]

8. They are already there

I've never seen a people who treat each other as shitty as the chinese do.

[the redcoat]

3. What, so no more displacing entire towns for big fancy stadiums?

Serious consideration by Chinese government would be amazing. I imagine less censorship would result in an explosion of unions. Cheap Chinese labor would fall drastically, effectively destroying much of the American corporate business model.


Well, until they moved to any other 3rd world country to save a buck.


But hell, what a step in the right direction.

[HEyHEY]

4. What it would do is force the party to accept it has enemies

I know SO many Chinese people who hate these sons of bitches. And if there were free speech, the party would constantly be under attack. Remember all those Tiananmen students? They're still here and they're in their 40s now and all these unjustices will come out and it'll will be a whirlwind of chickens coming home to roost. I hope it happens.

[RC]

5. I can hardly wait till they start recycling 3rd world countries and

the United States gets its chance to make all the cheap junk, defective dry wall and plastic baby food so we can get our unemployed back to work again.

[pampango]

6. BBC: China's leaders meet to plan economic future

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11548789

China's ruling Communist Party is meeting in Beijing to draw up its next five-year plan for the economy. The agenda is secret but analysts say that instead of seeking a high rate of economic growth, China's leaders want to close the gap between rich and poor and between coastal and inland areas.

Earlier this week, a letter signed by 23 Communist Party elders circulated calling for an end to restrictions on the freedom of speech. The letter described China's censorship system as a "scandal" and an "embarrassment".

Their call came just days after the jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo - a champion for democracy in China - was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A group of 100 activists in China has now signed a petition calling for his release.

China has seen remarkable economic growth in recent years - largely driven by exports. The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says China wants to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, which has grown in order to prevent strikes and disputes over pay, which have led to social unrest in the past. Any instability worries the party because it challenge their authority across the country, our correspondent says.
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BTW, that is a great link. Thanks for posting.