The coloniality of citizenship: Reflections on the 2004 citizenship referendum

This article re-theorises the 2004 Citizenship Referendum, in first theorising ‘Ireland’ as a 32-counties occupied territory spread over two racial states, and as Britain's first colony. Second, the article theorises citizenship as a badge of social subjection and a measure of standing exclusively granted by racial states. Unpicking the meaning of citizenship, the article explores the impact of coloniality on the reconstruction of Irish citizenship as white supremacy. Third, the article proposes that the Citizenship Referendum resulted from the postcolonial Irish bourgeoisie wishing to emulate England, rather than continue to rebel against the ongoing British colonisation of Ireland. In conclusion, I follow McVeigh and Rolston in proposing that in view of the rise in ‘whiteness riots’ in Ireland north and south, our anti-racism scholarship and activism must re-focus not only on the abolition of the racist citizenship regime, but also aim to end Ireland's unfinished revolution.