The British colonized almost half of the world and amalgamated the "British Isles" into the UK which no one pretends is an equal partnership with the other countries involved. Countless nations have fought for independent governance from the British in the past. Now they hold a referendum for independence from the EU because they don't want Britain to be influenced by the interests of politicians who weren't directly elected by the British. This could be a long winded definition for a word that is universally hard to define. The campaign to leave the EU was more ironic than it was racist and let's face it, it was pretty racist.