France’s last newspaper Hawker gets the order of quality after 50 years

He is the last France’s last newspaper hawker; Probably the last in Europe.

Ali Akbar has been putting the latest headlines on the left bank of Paris for more than 50 years, under the hands, and his lips.

And now he will be officially recognized for his contribution to French culture. President Emanuel Macron – Those who once bought newspapers from Mr. Akbar as a student – will be decorating him with an order of merit, one of the highest honor in France next month.

He says, “When I started in 197933, we had a 35 or 40 round round group in Paris.” Now I am alone.

“It was very frustrated. Now everything is digital. People just want to consult their telephone.”

Nowadays, on his fashion, the fashionable St-German cafe, can hope to sell about 30 copies of Shri Akbar Le Monde. It keeps half of sale at the price, but does not get a refund for the return.

Before the Internet, he used to buy 80 copies in the first hour of the newspaper afternoon.

He says, “In the old age, people will rush to look for paper around me. Now I have to chase customers to try to sell,” he says.

It is not that due to the decline in trade, Shri Akbar suffers remotely, who says he is going for a great job of employment.

“I’m a pleasant person. And I’m free. With this job, I am completely independent. No one is ordering me. That’s why I do it.”

A clear 72 -year -old is a familiar and very favorite person in the neighborhood. “I first came here in the 60s and I grew up with Ali. He is like a brother,” said a woman.

“He knows everyone. And he is so funny,” says another.

Ali Akbar was born in Rawalpindi, and he entered Europe in the second half of the 60s and first entered Amsterdam where he worked on a cruise liner. In 197, the ship was in the French city of Ro and a year later in Paris. In the 1980s, he received the residency papers.

“I, I was not a hippie at the time, but I know a lot of hippies,” he says with his characteristic smile.

“When I was on his way to Europe, I landed with a group that tried to smoke me.

“I told them sorry, but I had a mission in life and didn’t want to spend a day to sleep in Kabul next month!”

He got to visit celebrities and writers at the once-Jerryne’s intellectual center. Elton John once bought a milk tea at the Brazilian Lip. And by selling documents in front of the prestigious science-PO University, she was familiar with generations of future politicians-the president Macron.

So how did he put a copy of the lane monde first and changed the renowned left bank neighborhood ever since he was hit? At auction (With shouting)?

“The atmosphere is not the same,” he expresses the mourning. “At that time there were publishers and writers everywhere-and actor and musician. There was a soul in that place. But now it is just a tourist-city.

“The soul is gone,” he says – but laughs as he does.