France honors final newspaper hawker in Paris with knighthood : NPR

PARIS — They name him the voice of Paris’ sixth arrondissement. Within the cafés of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Ali Akbar is a fixture — with a voice you’ll be able to’t miss. You often hear him earlier than you see him, shouting “Ça y est!” — his signature catchphrase, “That is it!”

For greater than 50 years, the Pakistani-born newspaper hawker has made the identical every day rounds on his secondhand bicycle, weaving between brasseries with recent stacks of papers like Le Monde and Libération. His prospects have ranged from neighborhood regulars to Left Financial institution intellectuals just like the twentieth century thinker Jean-Paul Sartre and visiting presidents together with Invoice Clinton.

And final month, one other of his outdated prospects — French President Emmanuel Macron — awarded him considered one of France’s highest honors, naming Akbar a knight within the Nationwide Order of Advantage.

“You’re the accent of the sixth arrondissement,” Macron informed Akbar in a proper ceremony on the Élysée Palace in late January. “The voice of the French press on Sunday mornings — and each different day of the week.”

Macron went on to confer with Akbar as “probably the most French of the French — a Voltairean who arrived from Pakistan.”

Akbar’s medal comes with a quiet footnote: He’s believed to be the final newspaper hawker left in Paris. A job that after dotted road corners throughout the town has virtually vanished, pushed out by the web and the collapse of print journalism gross sales. In a metropolis that now will get most of its headlines on telephones, Akbar nonetheless delivers them by hand.

French President Emmanuel Macron awards the Chevalier of the French Nationwide Order of Advantage to Ali Akbar on the Elysee Palace in Paris on Jan. 28, 2026. Akbar, an immigrant from Pakistan, has been promoting newspapers round Saint-Germain-des-Pres within the French capital for 50 years.

TOM NICHOLSON/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photos

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TOM NICHOLSON/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photos

One large dream

At 73 years outdated, Akbar nonetheless works seven days per week, 10 hours a day — rain or shine.

Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, the oldest of 10 kids, he says that rising up in poverty, he had one large dream — to make sufficient cash to construct his mother a home. Simply earlier than his 18th birthday, he left residence, decided to make a greater life overseas.

“I began to work onerous,” he says.

For some time, he cleaned flooring on a ship in Greece, choosing up the Greek language. After that, he spent a while within the Netherlands and within the northern French metropolis of Rouen.

When he wound up in Paris in 1973, an Argentinian pal steered he begin promoting newspapers with him within the Latin Quarter. One of many first titles Akbar bought was a satirical weekly, which shocked him with its raunchy cartoons and irreverence towards French politicians.

“My first thought was: in my nation, should you do this, they’ll kill you,” Akbar says.

He then added mainstream dailies, and grew to like the work of newspaper hawking, barely considering twice about 18-hour days.

“Actually, these days have been paradise for me,” he says.

However that does not imply issues have been straightforward. There have been instances when he was homeless, selecting to sleep on the streets to save cash and ship it again to his household.

“I used to be at all times considering of my mom and her kids,” he says.

Finally he was in a position to fulfill his dream of constructing his mother her home. Within the years since, he has continued incomes a modest residing promoting papers. After an organized marriage again in Pakistan, Akbar and his spouse, Aziza, settled in a Paris suburb and raised 5 sons.

Akbar says he stays grateful to France for all the chance he has been given. However he isn’t afraid to acknowledge the hardships he has confronted. The title of his 2005 memoir hints at what lies beneath the jubilant picture that is made him well-known: I Make the World Snicker, however the World Makes Me Cry.

Even so, Akbar — just like the Voltairean Macron described him as — chooses to deal with the constructive. “You’ll be able to meet unhealthy individuals in every single place, and there are additionally good individuals in every single place,” he says, when requested about his struggles.

Cheers and congratulations wherever he goes

Lately, Akbar can hardly go quite a lot of minutes with out a stranger stopping him on the street to congratulate him on his latest honor.

For his household, his medal can also be about therapeutic.

“It has put a bandage on outdated wounds,” says his son, Shamshad Akbar.

Akbar, who obtained his residency papers many years in the past, says Macron has promised him French citizenship. The Élysee Palace would not remark when NPR requested about it.

Folks within the neighborhood say Akbar has given them one thing priceless — an opportunity for every day human connection.

“He is considering you, and then you definitely’re considering him,” says longtime buyer Michel Mimran. “And that is very uncommon now within the large cities.”

Lately, Akbar says he is fortunate to make about 60 euros — about $70 — a day promoting papers.

And when sometime he lastly goes, the newspaper hawker commerce in Paris will go along with him.

However he has no intention of going anytime quickly. On a latest Sunday afternoon, Akbar pushed open the door of a packed brasserie on the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Heads turned. From the again of the room, a small crowd began chanting his identify. Then the remainder of the place joined in.

“Ali, Ali!” the room sang in unison.

Akbar smiled, lifted his palms, holding papers, laughed — after which shouted in French and in English:

“Ça y est! I’ve realized my dream!”