"All over Asia we are passing through trials and tribulations. In India also you see conflict and trouble. Let us not be disheartened by this. This is inevitable in an age of mighty transition. There are often creative impulses and a new vitality in all the peoples in Asia. The masses are awake and they demand their heritage. Strong winds are blowing all over Asia. Let us not be afraid of them, but rather welcome them, for only with their help can we build, a new age of our dreams. Let us have faith in these great new forces and the dream which is taking place. Let us, above all, have faith in the human spirit which Asia symbolised for long ages past.”
So this was assessment of Pandit Nehru 28 years ago and what has happened in the last 28 years has not only supported this, but it has shown that people in Latin America, Africa and Asia, all people who were under the domination of imperialism were on the march and struggle against these evil forces. We see from year to year that these forces are marching forward from one triumph to another.
We have seen what has happened in Cambodia; what is happening in South Vietnam. We have seen what has happened in South Africa, in the African continent and what has happened in Portugal. These are the new forces, the people’s forces, in Africa and Asia which, certainly, have made a great impact on the international scene today. This is one of the most important realities. I am mentioning this thing because this is the most important element which will shape the foreign policy of the world trends in the year to come.
Another important thing that has happened is the emergence of the third world. Not merely it has liberated or it has come into its own but it has organised certain institutional forums also to assert itself. One feature of it is the non-aligned movement. The non-aligned movement today is one of the important forces with which the world has to work, recognise and accept as an important fact. We have seen that most of the non-aligned countries are developing countries and most of them belong to the third world. What have we seen in the last year? oth the Special Session of the General Assembly Session of the U. N. demonstrated that this third world and the peoples of the third world are not merely struggling to come into their own but are asserting their rights; they are asserting to achieve justice and equity. They are not merely asking for justice but they are finding out ways and instruments to achieve justice and equity.
These are the basic elements in the international scene today. Of course, there is another reality also which we have to take into account and that is the very acute economic situation that has overtaken the world in the last two or three years, particularly, in the form of inflationary conditions, the prices of certain raw materials and the price of imports in developing countries and their effect on the economy of those countries. This is also a new reality that we have to take into account.
