“Project Arizona” Participants Show . . . How Fortunate People Are To Be Born In U.S., Activist Says

By DEXTER DUGGAN

PHOENIX — An audience member stood up to say, “I am so proud of you guys, you represent the American spirit, whether you know it or not,” adding that their example recalled the rebellious American colonists who triumphed against the powerful British King George, even though he ruled an empire on which the sun never set.
The young recipients of this praise on February 17 weren’t even U.S. citizens but had come here to study the ways that made this nation such a success. Information about its recipe for freedom and independence needed to be spread back in their native lands, they said.
They were four young women and four young men, the members of the fourth annual class of Project Arizona, who came from around the world for intensive study and activity from the beginning of January through late March.
This is the third year The Wanderer has caught up with Project Arizona as they meet, greet, and study about free-market initiatives, individualism, and personal responsibility every winter in the Grand Canyon State. Among their activities and appearances, they spoke to an evening meeting of the Arizona Project Tea Party here on February 17.
In only four years Project Arizona has grown from six European participants, from Poland, Ukraine, and Georgia, to eight young people from around the world, from China and India to South America and Europe.
One of this year’s members, Benjamin Frormann, 20, a practicing Catholic from Austria, told the Tea Partiers this was his first time in the U.S., but he found its people to be so welcoming.
The U.S. and Europe “are very different,” Frormann said, but they have in common “a threat from the left,” such as represented by young people who believe everything should be given to them for free. “I really hope we can change this dogma from the left,” he said.
Nene Kolbaia, 20, from Georgia, said, “My country doesn’t know anything about freedom and liberty, because of Russia,” the dominant power in the area.
Poland’s Jacek Spendel, who founded and is director of Project Arizona, said the evening’s program was “a fantastic opportunity to meet real patriotic people” who care about freedom and prosperity. “We care about what made America a great country….
“Arizona is just not great weather but also great people,” Spendel continued. “. . .People who care about freedom are really well organized in Arizona,” a better place for these values “than Rhode Island or California, right?”
In addition to serving in liberty-oriented internships, the participants pursue classes at Arizona State University and visit sites including the free-market Goldwater Institute, the Grand Canyon University Innovation Center, the Arizona Supreme Court, and the Arizona Jewish Heritage Center.
They spoke of the damaging influences of strong governments and socialism that they’re more familiar with.
Kateryna Shapovalenko, from Ukraine, who said she grew up “in a very tiny village,” said, “People in Ukraine are not really prepared for liberal ideas.”
At this point Spendel jumped in to explain that the word “liberal” back home “more or less (means) ‘libertarian’” in the U.S.
Myra Huang, from China, said this was her second time in the U.S., but at home, “We don’t have freedom of speech…no freedom of everything.”
Nicolas Zelada, 24, from Argentina, recalled how rich his nation was more than a century ago, but then “socialism happened.” One in three Argentinians is poor, Zelada said, and the currency lost most of its value.
On a different topic, Zelada said, “It was amazing to watch a person carry their own guns here” as the expression of the U.S. Second Amendment.
Project Arizona’s Facebook page on February 10 showed its members holding firearms at an Arizona shooting range, along with a note saying, “We all believe that security should not be monopolized by the state.”
Estefania Sandoval, 23, from Ecuador, condemning socialist ideas, said, “We have a lack of opportunity. . . . We don’t have much of a chance for young people.”
Himanshu Dhingra, 24, from India, said that when his nation gained independence in 1947, its leaders opted for socialism, but conditions began to improve with mixed-economy reforms initiated in 1991.
Still, Dhingra said, there is excessive deference to government and regulation. “Right out of high school, (students) want to join government” jobs. “Government is good and private sector is bad” is their thinking, he said.
Seated next to Dhingra, Sandoval nodded in agreement as he criticized the impact of government restrictions.
Later during the program Dhingra rebuked regulations imposed on Indian schools including how large playgrounds have to be. Many small schools face closure because they can’t meet the regulations and so can’t serve poor students, he said.
Kolbaia, from Georgia, said a problem in education there is university instructors with the old Soviet Union mentality.
Frormann, from Austria, said his parents had sent him to a private Catholic school with an excellent education, but he wouldn’t send children to a public school there because of the flow of immigrants in 2015.
A post at the Pew Research Center in 2016 said: “A record 1.3 million migrants applied for asylum in the 28 member states of the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland in 2015 — nearly double the previous high-water mark of roughly 700,000 that was set in 1992 after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency.”
In 2010 the figure was less than 250,000 people, according to an accompanying chart.
Pablo Garcia Quint, 21, from Bolivia, expressed his interest “in free market and freedom ideas.” He belongs to a Bolivian freedom think tank.
He added later that a person may spend his money on himself and others, or government spends money as it thinks best, but that system eventually fails.
Considering what the Project Arizona participants were saying, the chairman of the Tea Party group, Ron Ludders, said, “I don’t think most people understand how fortunate they are to have been born in America.”
A woman in the audience spoke up to say: “I think I’m looking at the future leaders of each of your nations. . . . I will be praying for each of you, beautiful people.”
Asked what was the most mistaken idea they’d heard from a friend about the U.S. before coming here, Frormann said, “Americans are very dangerous because they’ve got all these guns.” However, he said, a recent large gun-rights rally at the Arizona State Capitol was “probably the safest place” to be.
Sandoval, from Ecuador, added that Americans have a sense of responsibility about gun possession, while Spendel pointed out that every year Project Arizona goes to a gun range to shoot.
Dhingra said, “Arizona is the freest state in the United States…a magnificent part of the country.”
Spendel said all his group’s members had their tickets to attend President Trump’s rally scheduled in Phoenix two evenings later, on February 19.
A leaflet giving “essential information on Project Arizona” says: “Our mission is to provide young international leaders a life-changing experience that empowers them to become effective advocates for freedom. Four pillars of Project Arizona are: internships, ASU-based education, networking, and volunteering.”
It adds, “Our students gain a thorough understanding of the ideas of liberty and how to implement them when they return to their own communities.”
The leaflet quotes Spendel: “It is not a coincidence that we held our project in Arizona. This state is in the forefront of individual liberty across the nation, having very strong institutions advancing principles of free society.”
Spendel said in a 2019 video, “We don’t take any taxpayer funds,” but work to raise money and also receive donations.
The website is projectarizona.us.
As the president of Liberty International, Spendel also is promoting an international liberty conference scheduled for August 13-16 in Medellin, Colombia. More information is at liwcolombia.com.