Last Wednesday 19 July 2023, in an inconceivable and concerning decision of the Ramsey Town Commissioners, the only female on the board of Commissioners was put on trial by some of her male peers for making an impassioned call against reckless littering in the community of Ramsey. The decision to lodge and pass a vote of no confidence in Ms Lamara Craine, for using, on a private Facebook profile, a swear word term to describe some members of Ramsey community who chose to litter and damage our natural environment, was a damning and deeply unfair persecution by the Commissioners.
The inequality and injustice of the Commissioners’ vote was truly made stark when an amendment was voted down (6-4) that proposed to include any Commissioner in the vote of no confidence who had been convicted of a criminal offence during their term as a Commissioner. Therefore, in an incomprehensible decision, the Commissioners decided to prioritise the unfair demonisation of an impassioned call to respect the natural environment in Ramsey, by its only female member, over actual criminal offences committed by Commissioners.
It is noted that a male Commissioner at Ramsey Town Commissioners ironically pleaded guilty to an offence of depositing unlicensed waste in 2022, during his term as a Commissioner. Seemingly, the message sent by this vote is that the Commissioners implicitly condone such criminal acts whilst excoriating members who make lonely and impassioned calls to protect our natural environment and criticise those who would do it damage. An impossible moral double-standard, impossible to either comprehend or accept.
The vote of the Commissioners followed some media outlets in the Isle of Man running the story, reporting that Ms Craine had upset an unspecified number of people by use of a swear word to describe those littering in Ramsey.
The statement by Ms Craine, on a private social media page, was published by another in a public forum, triggering a response from some Isle of Man media outlets to publicise a screen shot of Ms Craine’s statement. In doing so, these media outlets apparently deemed the story important and of a universal concern. It is deeply unfortunate that the important issues Ms Craine was dealing with in her statement, such as the proliferation of waste from the littering of single use vapes, were not seen by those media outlets as more newsworthy than an impassioned call to a community in urgent need of addressing a waste crisis.
Ms Craine has a record of not only making impassioned calls for community change, but also putting her words into action to improve the community we all live in, including: -
i. Co-organiser of the ‘Elm Tree’ protest in 2021, involving a march of protest against DEFA’s decision to grant approval to the felling of 25 mature elm trees, stating in an interview with the media at the protest that: “People on this Island love the iconic beauty of this Island; the trees that line this row were obviously part of a much larger network of woodland and this is all that is remaining now. We don’t want to lose that.”
ii. Organising and leading a ‘Die In’ protest at Tynwald Day in 2019, stating in the media at the time: “This Tynwald Day, we have united to demonstrate our overriding concern with the lack of urgency the Isle of Man Government is displaying on the climate emergency”
iii. Raising the profile of climate change in the media and vigorously challenging the Isle of Man Government’s decision to award and then extend a gas prospecting licence to Crogga, a fossil company, despite Tynwald’s climate emergency declaration, the Climate Change Act 2021, and 40 years of science. Ms Craine was quoted in the press as stating that the Government’s decision was a “backwards step” and that in the time that Crogga were claiming that they need to extract gas we could build enough renewable energy to not need gas.
The decision of some of the Isle of Man media to run the story and attempt follow-up to keep it running begs the question of whether a male politician in the same circumstances would suffer the same intense and incendiary scrutiny.
Ms Craine did not bully anyone or commit a criminal act. She swore in frustration in a message on a private social media page, triggering wide publicity and inquisition by some of her fellow Commissioners in Ramsey.
This chain of events places a real concern as to the existence of an environment supportive to women in Isle of Man politics. It is noteworthy that a current team of academics is preparing a report for Tynwald on the barriers to women entering Isle of Man politics.
The Isle of Man Green Party is a registered political party committed to diversity, including gender equality, in our community. The Green Party principles are: -
· Social Justice.
· Respect for Diversity.
· Non violence.
· Ecological wisdom.
· Participatory democracy.
· Sustainability.
Further information can be found on the Party’s website www.greenparty.im and via email at committee@greenparty.im.
