Anti-colonial Movement
This assertion of man's fundamental craving for freedom and equality could not be denied in various colonial areas of the world, and, therefore, we say, after World War II thanks to a series of freedom struggles, in various parts of the world, all the former colonies became masters of their own destiny.
This process of de-colonisation owed not a little to Gandhiji's pioneering efforts in Africa where he fashioned his tools of nonviolence and spiritual faith and transferred them to the struggle by the masses of India against the British colonial rule. Pockets of colonialism still exist in Southern Africa and today you witness a great movement among the peoples in that area towards self-determination, self-government and human equality.
Anyone who has studied the history of the last hundred years cannot but feel sure that this struggle will end in success. All that we can do today is to bring it about quickly and with as little violence as possible. It is only the manner of the birth of independence and
self-determination of colonial peoples that can be changed -- not the end result.
If one looks at the history of man, one is struck by the fantastic pace of development of technology and the transformation of man's relationship to his environment in the last two hundred years. It is said by many that in the whole course of human evolution of millions of years, man has not been familiar with the rapid pace of changes that have come about in the world during the last hundred years.
Our understanding of the nature of matter and of the universe has grown phenomenally. There is still a great deal to be learnt but the store of knowledge we have acquired is considerable.