This stage of decolonisation is a responsive action for survival. The action called for in the 5^th phase of decolonization is not a reactive but a pro-active step taken upon the consensus of the people. In the process of decolonisation the fifth phase: Action,  can be properly taken only upon a consensus of commitment reached in the 4th phase. Otherwise, the action taken can not truly be said to be the choice of the people colonized.

But the reality of many situations does not allow for such a methodical, patient, time consuming process of the four earlier phases. When a people are under physical attack, when a people are finding their children torn from their homes for reeducation in colonial societies, when people are being removed from their traditional lands in droves, action may be called for prior to the society’s completion of the dreaming phase. But that kind of responsive action to colonization’s onslaught is not the action spoken of here. The responsive action is one for survival. The action called for in the 5^thphase of decolonization is not a reactive but a pro-active step taken upon the consensus of the people.

The 5^th phase action may incorporate the full spectrum from a call to reason on one end to a resort to arms on the other. Under appropriate times and in the appropriate manner, all of such actions are sanctioned by international law. But the decolonization environment has so drastically changed in the last 30 years that the action phase today must include consideration beyond what has been historically undertaken to achieve independence. While the first thought for independence would have been to grab the rifle and march against the colonizer, it seems the new weapons are dictated by technological development. The fax machine, computer, television, radio and newsprint are perhaps more effective in executing the long battle plan. Those new weapons notwithstanding, the rifle, it’s been argued, may still be necessary to defend those other media of expressions.