It was not that long ago, perhaps seven to ten years, that Malta first began to hear that now familiar word, globalisation.

It was in fact former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami who first brought the issue to the fore. One remembers one of his Independence Day mass meetings. Dr Fenech Adami told those at the fossos to look ahead to the 2003 General Election with a new sense of heightened awareness, he told the masses to be cautious and wary of the “phenomenon of globalisation”. Not many understood him, thinking he was meaning that joining the EU would bring us cheaper and easier travel, study opportunities abroad and more.

The EU did bring these things, but it also brought challenges that we now face every day. The first couple of years of EU membership were the honeymoon years. We reveled in our newly found status of EU citizens. It was all opportunity and the world was our oyster.

But now, it is a different scenario. When the honeymoon was over, Malta was gearing up to increased investment and high-end employment. But this was before the bubble burst. In the run up to the last election, the usual hysteria was blinding most. Current Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was speaking at the Valletta Waterfront in a GonziPN campaign meeting when he alluded, very slyly to “thunder and lightning and the choppy seas which are approaching our shores”. At the time, the Lehman bubble had not yet burst, and no one gave the comment much attention. It was election time, it was tight, and the matter was not raised again, for fear of scaring the electorate. Then it happened. In 2008-2009 the world’s economy went bust. From gearing up to and enjoying high-end employment and investment, Malta was, like the rest of Europe, fighting for its economic survival. Drastic measures were taken, as factories abroad cut their quotas of parts and components from Malta. Factories producing chips, makeup cases, sinks and many others went down to four day weeks as orders from abroad became slimmer and slimmer.

Malta’s own economy was dragged into recession, because although the banks were robust and local performance was enough to ‘keep the wheels going’, the effect on other nations was causing real production and financial viability problems.

As Europe edged out of recession in 2010, we did also. But still events abroad continue to shape our daily lives in this globalised world. Our currency depends on the issues in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland. Investors have lost money on international markets and funds. It continues to this day as cars from Japan and baby soothers are recalled from local garages and shelves.

But the proof of it all was Libya. As Maltese investment in Libya was severely hammered in the ongoing revolution, Malta was affected in a manner which we have never seen before. Tens of thousands of people came through our islands as they escaped the conflict. Libyan pilots defected and landed here under our noses. Aircraft running out of fuel landed here to take on a fresh supply. More importantly, hundreds of shattered refugees are making for our shores and our Armed Forces are in action constantly to help save lives at sea.

This is what globalisation means. It does not mean ebay, cheap travel, study courses and trade. It means having to find the adaptability and the strength to face new challenges at the drop of a hat. It means being able to survive in a new world model that is the making of history – whether dark, or positive.