Ali Akbar, France’s last newspaper hawker, retired last month. He has spent the last 50 years hootingly, beatifically selling his papers with “La Presse!” Now, at 72, he is a local institution in the Left Bank neighborhood. Those who’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting him speak fondly about his unyielding commitment to his craft. Akbar will be officially inducted into the prestigious Order of Merit, one of France’s highest external honors. President Emmanuel Macron will hand it to him, recalling how in his student days he used to buy newspapers from Akbar.
Tariq Akbar, born in Rawalpindi, came to Europe in the late 1960s. He ended up first arriving through Amsterdam. There, he soon found work on a floating restaurant cruise liner—including one that ironically ended up in the deeply French city of Rouen in 1972. The next year, he was able to join them, and he started his new life in Paris—and his life as a newspaper hawker—in 1973. In those days, the streets of Paris were a veritable orchestra of 35 to 40 peddlers. Now, only one lonely left standing.
Akbar’s main attraction is Le Monde, which he sells with a certain sense of pride. He gets to pocket the other half of the sale price. This allows him to feel more independent and free as he speeds past busy city traffic.
Looking back at his twenty years as the head of Paris transit, Akbar reminisced about the “invisible” Paris of yore. Back then there were publishers and writers on every corner – and actors and musicians. The place had soul. Now it’s only about the tourist-town,” he said. His devotion to his craft is rooted in a profound source of happiness and freedom.
I am a joyous person. And I am free. With this job, I am completely independent. There is no-one giving me orders. That’s why I do it,” he told me in French, emphasizing the relevance of his work as a hawker in present-day Paris.
As he gets ready for this momentous milestone, Akbar’s commitment to serving his community continues to shine through in all that he does. His unique presence not only connects residents to current events but embodies the rich history of street trading in Paris.