page_title: Argentina Bicentennial
section_title: Comparison with the centennial
hierarchical_section_title: Argentina Bicentennial / Comparison with the centennial
caption_attribution_description: English: Centenary of the May Revolution, in Argentina Español: Centenario de la Revolución de Mayo, en Argentina
context_page_description: The Argentina Bicentennial was a series of ceremonies, festivals, and observances celebrated on May 25, 2010 and throughout the year. They commemorated the 200th anniversary of the May Revolution, a sequence of historical events that led to the Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros being ousted from office and replaced with the Primera Junta, the first national government.
  Bicentennial celebrations began on Friday, May 21 in Buenos Aires, with millions of people in attendance, making them the biggest outdoor festivities Argentina had seen since it celebrated its return to democratic rule after seven years of military dictatorship in 1983.
context_section_description: A recurring topic of debate in Argentine newspaper editorials was the comparison between the bicentennial and the centennial in 1910. Some authors, such as intellectual Rosendo Fraga, described the centennial as having been better, arguing that Argentina enjoyed a more favorable context when economic measures such as relative GDP per capita, quality of public education, and the public's optimism or its perceived will to improve are considered. The centennial, moreover, took place only two years before the enactment of the Sáenz Peña Law, which helped make universal suffrage effective to all male citizens in Argentina aged 18 and over. 
  Others, such as historian Felipe Pigna, stated instead that Argentina in 1910 did not compare favorably with Argentina in 2010, when the lack of social legislation and labor laws, as well as the significant wealth gap between the rich and society in general, are taken into account. Pigna argued that praising the centennial would be tantamount to praising the policies that led to and perpetuated such conditions.
caption: Centennial of the May Revolution, 1910.
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