tyranny but they erect their own little tyrannies.í^7 Kiberd notices how
the history of independent Ireland bears a remarkable similarity to the
phases of decolonization charted by Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of
the Earth (1961), whereby the first stage of post-colonial nationalism
mirrors the tyrannies of imperialist nationalism with its need to assert
a homogeneous national power in the face of colonial aggression.^8
Critiquing too easy alignments between Ireland and Europe that
are found in the post-nationalist pro-European argument of Kearney,
Kiberd examines the history of colonialism in Ireland to make
connections between Irish nationalism and third world decoloniz-
ation.^9 Kiberdís essay configures a cartography that situates Ireland at
the margins of post-imperial Europe or, as is suggested by Carol
Coulter, ëbetween the first and third worldsí. Coulter views Ireland as
third world in history and first world in geography.^10 It is therefore not
surprising when Kiberd finds the slogan ëwe are the new Europeansí
an inadequate statement to describe Ireland in the 1990s. Kiberd
expresses scepticism in the face of Europeanization which he
implicitly views as an internationalism that smacks of neo-
colonialism: ëa post-colonial Ireland had many important differences
from a mainly post-imperial Europe.í^11
Internationalism and post-nationalism are not always welcome
concepts for certain Irish post-colonial critics and political activists.
On the one hand, internationalism can be linked with multinational
corporations and a capitalist economy that informs neo-colonialism.
This is identified by Kiberd in his description of an ëinternational
Èliteí from ëmultinational companiesí who visit Ireland ëas tourists in
search of the exoticí, and is developed in his fears of a ëEuropean
superstateí which would hardly be attractive to emerging third world
7 Declan Kiberd, ëModern Ireland: Postcolonial or Europeaní, Not On Any Map:
Essays on Postcoloniality and Cultural Nationalism, ed., Stuart Murray (Exeter:
University Press, 1997), p.82. Cf. Patrick Pearse, ëThe Murder Machineí, A
Significant Irish Educationalist: Educational Writings of Patrick Pearse, ed.,
SÈamus O Buachalla (Cork: Mercier, 1980), p.352.
8 Frantz Fanon, ëOn National Cultureí, The Wretched of the Earth (London:
Penguin, 1961, 1965), pp.166ñ200.
9 Cf. John Hume, ëEurope of the Regionsí in Across the Frontiers.
10 Carol Coulter, Ireland: Between the First and the Third Worlds (Dublin: LIP,
Attic, 1990).
11 Kiberd, ëModern Irelandí, Not On Any Map, p.93.