Doing More in Cuba

Regina Cano

HAVANA TIMES — “Hacer +” (Do +) has appeared of late as graffiti and seems to be aimed at encouraging locals to get moving. Sometimes it appears (other times it disappears) in Alamar, the Havana neighborhood where I live.

Apparently an Alamar graffitist took it upon them self to motivate local residents through this work, made in haste and without templates. On one occasion this person included the full phrase, which read “DO + and TALK –.”

It seems to me that he/she is trying to reintroduce a phrase that was repeated by the Cuban media in the 1980’s as a part of the “rectification of errors” campaign, if my memory serves me correctly.

The phrase back then was “do more with less,” which perhaps was first said in some speech with the same intention of mobilizing citizens. However, I can’t say for sure this is where the anonymous graffiti artist got the idea.

At first I thought that the appearance of that phrase — which fills the streets of Alamar — could have been the work of local institutions since it encourages more work and saving time as a function of people’s own actions.

But people! Sometimes the authorities baffle me – like now, when they’re using up so much paint to cover up those words whenever they appear.

It’s too bad that the words of this type of thinking are being misconstrued because they’re actually in line with the appeals made by the government to the Cuban people to say what they think.

Our people need to do more — from the individual to us collectively — for our own development as a country.

We need to do more, from the material plane to the rational, spiritual and moral planes for the common good, which could lead to a more consistent behavior for the benefit of everyone.

Sadly, as long as there exist egos and individualism — causing some people to hinder others, tripping them up, sometimes even crushing their spirits in mini-wars won and lost at the personal level — then this country (our people) will remain on a low rung, far from achieving any victories.