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More than 13,000 Hong Kong students are skipping classes this week in order to protest China’s tight control of their system of government. Demanding free elections, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, which has organized the protests, wants the Chinese leadership to honor a pledge for democratic reform made during its handover from the British.

Residents of Hong Kong want to elect their own democratic representatives and expect to do so by 2017. But Chinese authorities have stymied efforts saying they want to vet all candidates. The Chinese state-controlled media are ignoring the fact that the students have nearly brought life on the island to a standstill.

Plans are currently underway for an all-out occupation of Hong Kong’s business district starting on October 1st. Meanwhile some members of Hong Kong’s business elite are currently visiting Beijing in an effort to cement their interests.

GUEST: Prof. Don Rodgers, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Program in Non-Profit Organizations and Public Service at Austin College