I'll tell you. It will end with the destruction of pro surfing as we know it. This climate, man. Or do I? I refer to everything else, but mostly the Israel v Hamas conflict currently inviting any and all outside the region to pick a ridiculously hardened side.
College students at Harvard imagining they know, and stand with, the oppressed. Hollywood notables thinking that they are victims and those who disagree must be dispensed with immediately. Shaun Tomson blood feud. Or not fired, but quit according to Tomson. I think it probably actually means the former, though social media gonna social media and illiteracy gonna illiterate. In any further case, Tomson fired Basnett, who had begun working with Insight, in a fiery letter.
Suddenly the surfers have principles. Suddenly we have political aspirations. But do you think not surfing in an event in South Africa will change anything?
Are you not all trying to get some cheap publicity? Look after your livelihood and what you love. I stand here as a surfer in defense of pro surfing. Thank you. Apartheid South Africa an absolute historical disgrace. He refused then signed a million dollar contract with Quiksilver becoming an icon twice over. Hawke heard about the threat, called Carroll, and invited him to Canberra where he told the surfer that if his sponsor went legal he had the weight of the Australian government behind him.
All kinds of people went a bit crazy about it. He read his brief very well. Gave him the whole story. I needed all the help I could get. It was a lovely moment between the three of us. It gives me goosebumps now. Tomson was never pro-apartheid, let it be stated. My goodness. I once thought I knew. Nineteen years old, in Egypt, traveling to Israel, overland though the now trendy Rafah crossing for the first time. My positions became absolutely ludicrous when meeting real people in that Holy Land.
