Original article: https://www.laabeja.pe/la-generacion-del-bicentenario-mito-y-realidad/

THE BICENTENARY GENERATION: MYTH AND REALITY

By: Luciano Revoredo

Much is being said about the virtues and heroics of the so-called wrong generation, or more solemnly baptized as the Bicentennial Generation . This last denomination reminds us that there was a Centennial Generation , they were those young people who in 1921 (centenary of independence) came out into public and intellectual life and who were forgers of the university reform, following the current that began in Córdoba (Argentina). ) in 1918.

There is a famous photograph taken in San Marcos that portrays several of that famous generation together. They appear, standing, from left to right: Jorge Basadre, Manuel Abastos, Ricardo Vegas García, Raúl Porras Barrenechea and Luis Alberto Sánchez. Seated, from left to right: Guillermo Luna Garland, Carlos Moreyra and Paz Soldán and Jorge Guillermo Leguía. This photograph was published in the magazine Mundial on July 28, 1921. To this group we must add Haya de la Torre and Mariátegui. Nothing less.

A hundred years have passed since that remarkable host of young Peruvians and we find ourselves, on the threshold of the Bicentennial, with which the media and many opinion leaders want to sell us the idea of a heroic, noble, idealistic generation that is changing the country. That these are young people who have taken to the streets to express their repudiation of the old policy and transform Peru.

Unfortunately, the reality is different. The so-called Bicentennial Generation has so far not borne the slightest intellectual fruit. We do not see the Basadres or the Hayas among the various echelons of stone throwers and fireworks that took over the center of Lima last week.

On the contrary, we see a multitude of youngsters harangued by professional manipulators who have led them to commit all kinds of outrages. It is worth asking, for example, how many of the young people who took to the streets know with certainty what the issue of the presidential vacancy is about? How many have read and understood the Constitution they want to change? How many are aware that they have been used as cannon fodder by the agents of the Sao Paulo Forum?

Without a doubt there is a majority of young people activated by the networks, those who have Tik Tok as a doctrine and who have innocently been a comparsa of the most ideological.

Do these young people know that the police officers who insult and stone are also from the generation they claim to represent? Do you know that those policemen who are thrown fireworks at them that can kill them or blind them, are the same ones who risked their lives for them in the worst days of the pandemic?

Do the innocent young people who march for what they believe to be pure ideals know that many of those who march alongside them are full-time violentists? Do they know that many of those who march by their side are the same ones who throw stones in football and have been hired to sow chaos and impose a leftist government?

The most surprising thing is the number of parents, supposedly enlightened, professionals or businessmen who applaud their children for having joined these marches.

Peru is raving. We have a government full of extremists. Perched on the flags of death and hate. Many are very happy with the supposed triumph of democracy. They will have time to repent. We are sowing winds and we already know what the harvest will be.

Thus we have decayed in a hundred years. From Basadre, Sánchez, Porras and Mariátegui we have moved on to Bryan and Inti. Two young people who did not have the opportunity to get ahead and took the wrong path (see attached documents), and unfortunately – every life counts – died in last week’s riots.

It is also worth reflecting on the responsibility that we older people have in this.