Sí se puede

Sí, se puede (Spanish for "Yes, It can be done!" or "Yes, you (formal) can do it!") is the motto of the United Farm Workers. In 1972, during Cesar Chavez's 25 day fast in Phoenix, Arizona, he and UFW's co-founder, Dolores Huerta came up with the slogan.cite web
url = http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view&b_code=news_press&b_no=185&page=16&field=&key=&n=53
title = Statement from Arturo S. Rodriguez, President, United Farm Workers of America, Celebrating Cesar Chavez's Birthday 3/31/98-La Paz, Keene, Calif.
accessdate = 2006-12-09
author = Arturo S. Rodriguez
date = 1998-03-31
format = HTML
work = Press Releases
publisher = United Farm Workers
language = English]

The phrase has been widely adopted by other labor unions and civil rights organizations and drew widespread political and media attention as a rallying cry during the 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests. cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= (CBS/AP) | title="¡Si, Se Puede!" Say Immigrants Rallies In Dozens Of Cities Compared By Some To Civil Rights Campaigns | date=April 11, 2006 | publisher=CBS Broadcasting Inc | url =http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/10/politics/main1484316.shtml | work =CBS NEWS / The Associated Press | pages = | accessdate = 2008-01-09 | language = ] The earth is shaking as immigrants rise up around the country with their voices singing "Sí se puede"--Yes, we can. This uprising is in the best tradition of the American Dream and the civil rights struggle for freedom. cite journal
author =Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
title ="Sí Se Puede" Means "We Shall Overcome"
journal =Motion Magazine
date =August 13, 2006
url =http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/hrcr/jj_ssp.html
accessdate = ] cite web|url=http://picketline.blogspot.com/2006/03/rally-downtown-si-se-puede.html |title=Rally Downtown SI SE PUEDE! social justice and democracy in miami |accessdate=2008-01-09 |date=March 10, 2006 |work=picketline.blogspot.com ] New Yorkers' most popular rallying cry during Saturday's pro-immigrant demonstration was the buoyant ¡Sí, Se Puede! (Yes, we can!).cite web|url=http://www.alternet.org/story/34387/ |title=¡Sí, Se Puede! |accessdate=2008-01-09 |author=Maria Luisa Tucker |date=April 3, 2006 |work=AlterNet |publisher=alternet.org ] Perhaps most significantly, the dominant chant at the March 10 protest, "Si se puede!" ("Yes we can!"), suddenly seemed realistic in this flowering of humanitycite news | first=SHARON | last=SMITH | title="Si se puede!" On Chicago's Streets | date= March 25 / 26, 2006 | publisher= | url =http://www.counterpunch.org/sharon03252006.html | work =counterpunch | pages = | accessdate = 2008-01-09 | language = ]

English translation

Sí se puede is usually translated in English as "yes, we can", or "yes you can".For example, the Spanish political organization [http://www.alternativasisepuede.org/ Alternativa Sí se puede por Tenerife] translates its name as "Alternative, Yes You Can for Tenerife". [http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcdp7gs8_38c8rq58] ] The more literal translation that the United Farm Workers uses is "Yes, It can be done!" [cite web
url = http://www.farmworkermovement.org/essays/glossary.shtml
title = UFW GLOSSARY Farmworker Movement Terminology
accessdate = 2006-12-09
author = LeRoy Chatfield
coauthors = et al. (UFW volunteers)
date = © 2005-2006
format = HTML
work = Farmworker Movement Documentation Project
publisher = Si Se Puede Press
language = English] Sí, se puede has become a rallying cry at many pro-immigration events across the United States in past few days...just what does se puede mean? Out of context, I'd probably translate it loosely as "it can be done." But context matters, and as part of a group chant the translation of "yes, we can" is entirely appropriate. Se puede is a phrase of empowerment (puede is a close cousin of el poder, a noun meaning "power"), and "we can" conveys that thought well.cite web|url=http://spanish.about.com/b/2006/04/11/does-s-se-puede-mean-yes-we-can.htm |title=Does 'Sí, se puede' mean 'Yes, we can'? |accessdate=2008-01-09 |author=Gerald Erichsen |date=April 11, 2006 |work=Gerald's Spanish Language Blog |publisher=spanish.about.com ]

Senator Barack Obama adopted the English version "Yes, we can!" first during the 2004 Illinois Democratic primary race for U.S. SenateCHICAGO, IL -- CROWD: Yes we can! Yes we can! ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The crowd in the Chicago hotel ballroom was fired up last March. Their candidate, Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, had pulled in a remarkable 53 percent of the vote in a seven-way race for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate.cite news | first=Elizabeth | last=Brackett | coauthors= | title=Rising Star | date=July 27, 2004 | publisher= | url =http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec04/obama_7-27.html | work =PBS | pages = | accessdate = 2008-02-19 | language = ] , and it has become a mantra of his 2008 presidential campaign. "Yes, we can!" was the theme of Sen. Obama's speech following his second-place finish in the 2008 New Hampshire primary.NASHUA, N.H. -- Sen. Barack Obama got a new campaign slogan Tuesday night when he lost the New Hampshire primary here in an upset that surprised his staunch supporters but left them no less ready for a fight."Yes, we can!"cite news | first=Maria L. | last=La Ganga | coauthors= | title=Obama has new rallying cry: Yes, we can! | date=January 9, 2008 | publisher= | url =http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama9jan09,1,3458826.story?coll=la-headlines-nation | work =Los Angeles Times | pages = | accessdate = 2008-01-09 | language = ] Following the speech Obama was endorsed by the Culinary Workers Union in the Nevada Democratic Caucus When Barack Obama introduced a new refrain to his stump speech after losing the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, it was aimed specifically at a Nevada audience: Culinary Workers Local 226.

“Yes, we can!” Obama told supporters, over and over, after his narrow loss to Hillary Clinton.

Although it fit with the Illinois senator’s message of hope, Culinary workers in Las Vegas recognized it as the labor slogan popularized by United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez. Indeed, the phrase, in Spanish, is plastered all over the walls of the union’s headquarters here.cite news | first=Michael | last=Mishak | title=Obama’s ‘Yes, we can’ echoes Culinary’s | date=January 12, 2008 | url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/12/obamas-yes-we-can-echoes-culinarys/ | work=Las Vegas Sun | language = ] , though it is important to note that news of the endorsement had already been circulating prior to this speech.http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Culinary_workers_endorsing_tomorrow.html"] The phrase was also used in the song "Yes We Can", which was performed by numerous celebrities in support of Obama. [YouTube | id=jjXyqcx-mYY | title=Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video] . Another video created in support of Obama's 2008 presidential bid, entitled "Sí Se Puede Cambiar" written and performed by Andres Useche and directed by Eric Byler was released on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U on YouTube] on February 22, 2008.

AeroMexico's trademark application

After AeroMexico, a Mexican airline, had filed a trademark application for "Sí se puede" with the US Trademark Office, lawyers for the United Farm Workers defended the phrase as the intellectual property of the UFW. After litigation, AeroMexico agreed not to use the phrase and abandoned its trademark application."Yes, We Can" was also used as a slogan by Air Canada commercials in the 1980s. "And since Canada is our home,We can show you a Canada you've never knownYes we can, Air Canada, yes--we--can!".

Gotta Kick it Up

In the disney channel movie Gotta Kick It Up!, their motto is "Sí se puede!"

Latin American Football

The phrase is often chanted by fans of lots of Latin American Football teams as encouragement, like Mexico national football team and the Costa Rican football team.

Further reading

*"¡SI, SE PUEDE! / YES, WE CAN! Janitor Strike in L.A.", by Diana Cohn, illustrated by Francisco Delgado, Cinco Puntos Press , 2002, ISBN 978-0-938317-66-1Bilingual Children's book about the successful Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) “Justice for Janitors” strike in Los Angeles in April of 2000.cite book | last = Cohn | first = Diana | authorlink = | coauthors = Francisco Delgado | title = ¡SI, SE PUEDE! / YES, WE CAN! Janitor Strike in L.A. | publisher = Cinco Puntos Press | date = September 1, 2002 | location = | pages = | url = http://www.cincopuntos.com/products_detail.sstg?id=75 | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0-938317-66-1 ]
*" Sí se puede : el movimiento de los hispanos que cambiará a Estados Unidos by Sanjuana Martínez" by San Juana Martinez Mexico, D.F. : Grijalbo, 2006 Spanish ISBN 978-0-307-38359-4

External links

* [http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/chavezholiday/ United Farm Workers Petition for a National Cesar E. Chavez Holiday]
* [http://www.seiu.org/property/janitors/si_se_puede/ SEIU Service Employees International Union Justice For Janitors ¡Si, Se Puede!]
* [http://sisepuedefoundation.org/index.html ¡Sí Se Puede! Foundation of Nevada]
* [http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/21_04/acti214.shtml Rethinking Schools online Action Education: 'Sí, Se Puede' (Yes, We Can)]
* [http://sisepuede.oregonstate.edu/ OSU Sí Se Puede 2007 Registration Form]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U "Si Se Puede Cambiar"] video on YouTube
* [http://sisepuede.small-scale.net ¡Si, Se Puede! (Yes, We Can!)] the short documentary video
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=CMsqczefeBg Guajiro - Ole, Latinos for Hope] Guajiro Obama video
* [http://nbjournal.org/2007/07/immigration-citizenship-labor/ ¡Sí Se Puede!: Recent Immigrant Struggles]
* [http://www.english-spanish-translator.org/english-spanish-marketing-translation/4757-yes-we-can-mistranslation.html Yes, we can Mistranslation]

References