Chinese Communist Party Elders Call for Free Speech Rights

McClatchy Newspapers - Almost two dozen Chinese Communist Party elders have signed a petition demanding that the “black hands” of government censorship in China be dismantled in favor of the freedom of speech rights enshrined in the country’s own constitution.The open letter, quickly scrubbed from most Chinese Internet portals, was released just days before this week’s meeting of the central committee of China’s Communist Party, in which many observers expect the question of political reform to be discussed.

“We hope they will take action,” said Zhong Peizhang, a signatory who from 1982 to 1986 headed the news bureau of the government’s Central Propaganda Department. Read more.