What Are the Protestors in Hong Kong Really Demanding?

For more than a week protestors in Hong Kong have been shutting down key roads and preventing some shops and stores from opening.  The media has been reporting the protestors’ goal as more democracy.  In Hong Kong’s case this means more say in how the next leader is chosen.  Democracy is a wonderful concept, but concepts don’t get hundreds of thousands of people to take time off from work and classes, sit in the broiling sun for days on end and occasionally get tear gassed or pepper sprayed.  Grievances, however, do get normal people to come out and protest.  What grievances are really driving the protestors in Hong Kong? Continue reading