The Leftist case for a dam, after all

Opposition to dams is being washed away. Leftist Barry York says it's those Greens, not the Left, who actually have an ideological objection to them:

The Green policy is expressed at their website as a principle: "There should be no new large-scale dams on Australian rivers."…

To the Green mentality and ethos, changing nature is destroying nature, dams are an assault on the "delicate balance" in nature, an example of human arrogance going too far…

It is indicative of our strange times that opposition to dams, as a matter of principle, can be seen as left-wing.

What is the traditional practice of left-wing parties in power on this question? What is the left-wing theoretical foundation for a policy on dams?

In practice, revolutionary left-wing parties in power - such as the communists in Russia/Soviet Union in the 20s and 30s and China in the 50s and 60s - were gung-ho in the building of dams.

They did so because making a revolution is about changing things for the better, raising the standards of living and opportunities for liberation from wage slavery.

To borrow from Karl Marx, it's about "unleashing the productive forces" - not forcing them into a sustainable relationship with nature…

In chapter one of The Communist Manifesto, Marx expressed his enthusiasm for the revolutionary consequences of the rise of the new bourgeoisie in transforming nature and extending human horizons.

He said: "It has been the first to show what man's activity can bring about. It has accomplished wonders far surpassing Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts and Gothic cathedrals; it has conducted expeditions that put in the shade all former Exoduses of nations and crusades."

It is unlikely that he would not have been as awe-inspired by the wonders of large-scale dam construction and the range of benefits on such a vast scale arising from dams...

York should try telling the Gillard Government that Leftists likes dams:

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett on Wednesday said he made the interim decision to reject the controversial $1.8 billion plan to dam the Mary River because evidence showed it could kill off endangered species…

"The project would have serious and irreversible effects on national listed species such as the Australian lungfish, the Mary River turtle and the Mary River cod - both of those endangered.

York should try telling the Victorian Labor party that Leftists like dams.

Here's the Bracks Government's excuse for not building a dam in Victoria:

All remaining "water (is) currently used by the rivers"

Here is the revised excuse of the Brumby Government:

Look at its latest excuse for not building the dam that would have spared Melbourne its insane - and insanely expensive - water restrictions.

"Why aren't we building another dam?" it burbles, shamed at last into defending its Labor masters' failure to build what we needed years ago.

"Unfortunately, we cannot rely on this kind of rainfall like we used to."

Result? Labor banned a proposed dam on the Mitchell River, turning the dam reservation there into a national park.

The Mitchell promptly flooded (in 2007), washing through Bairnsdale and sending more water to waste in the sea than Melbourne uses in a year.

Instead of a building a huge dam for $1.4 billion, the Government instead commissioned a desalination plant for $5.7 billion, even though it would produce just a third of the water.

(No comments during holiday break.)