Ali Akbar (newspaper hawker)

Ali Akbar is a Pakistani newspaper hawker based in Paris. He began selling newspapers in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1973, and is now the last newspaper hawker in France. When Emmanuel Macron was a student in his youth, he bought newspapers from Ali Akbar. In 2025, Macron awarded Akbar with the Ordre national du Mérite for his contributions to French culture.

Ali Akbar was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He lived in poverty and dropped out of school when he was 12 years old. He worked ood jobs and taught himself how to read. He got a passport at 18 and took a bus to Kabul. He chose to leave Afghanistan because Kabul was full of Western hippies that smoked hashish, which he did not want to participate in. He eventually reached Athens and got a job on a ship. He got off the ship and stayed in Shanghai before returning to Rawalpindi. From there he went back to Greece before returning again to Pakistan after his visa expired.^[1] In the 1960s, he moved to Amsterdam where he began working on a cruise liner. The ship docked in Rouen in 1972, and Akbar moved to Paris the next year. He got his French residency papers in the 1980s.^[2]

Akbar began selling newspapers when he moved to Paris in 1973. He started by selling the satirical Charlie Hebdo paper to students at Sorbonne University and other nearby institutions. Newspaper sales were already declining in the 1970s due to the growing popularity of news television, and the advent of online news caused further decline in sales.^[3] When Akbar began hawking, there were about 40 hawkers in Paris, but he is now the last hawker in France, and, according to BBC, possibly the last in Europe.^[2] He is known for his catchphrase, "Ça y est!" (transl. "That's it!"), which he shouts while selling papers. He also sometimes humorously yells about made-up headlines to attract attention.^[1] When he began hawking, he sold about 300 papers every day, but now sells about 40. He also makes money from a small pension, and he runs a food truck near the Jardin du Luxembourg.^[4]

Akbar is considered by locals to be an important part of the community and a staple of Parisian culture.^[1] A book about his life was published in 2009.^[5] In 2025, French president Emmanuel Macron, a former customer of Akbar's, awarded him with the Ordre national du Mérite. Although Akbar is a French resident, he has not gotten citizenship yet due to bureaucracy, and he stated that he hopes the award will help him finally become a citizen.^[1]