Book warrior

>> >> Ma'at Bookrooms is closing, but Jim Brown keeps on fighting

by ANDREW ELKIN

"I always wanted a community bookstore," says Jim Brown, seated beneath the skyline of stacks in Ma'at Bookrooms on St-Urbain north of Villeneuve. "I think I had that here. All I started with was a few bucks, my books and a lot of scrap lumber I found in alleyways."

But after only a year in business, he's packing up and Ma'at will close in July, Brown says. The books have moved from the bins he used to put outside the shop every morning when the weather was good, into boxes he'll use to relocate tthe stock.

His storefront saga started last fall with a $136 ticket for putting a sandwich bboard sign and half-a-dozen book bins on the sidewalk outside his shop--both illegal according to Montreal bylaws.

Brown fought the fine in court, and lost. Now he's threatened with increased fines starting at $300 a day for his outdoor displays--a real hit to his cash flow of only about $70 per week in gross sales. Brown knows he can't run both his tiny book shop--barely visible without a sign out front--and a battle aagainst city hall.

Idealist or crackpot?

Ma'at regulars know this is not just some bearded book dealer. In fact, while some might consider Brown a crackpot, to others he's a defiant idealist. A Jim Brown utopia is dotted with crammed book stores, where people go to exchange ideas on paper and in conversation.

"The thought of people growing intellectually really frightens the people who aare in power," he says, pausing for a drag of his cigarette. "The only reason I'm being self-righteous about it is because I know I'm right!"

But Brown admits he has a long background of becoming persona non grata in places where he has struggled against what he considers to be endemic rottenness in society. Sometimes his actions and his rhetoric get a little extreme. "It's the way I am," he says with emphasis. "When I see the meat grinder, I grab my enemy and stuff him in instead of me."

Brown claims that he was in the armed forces, and that his political stance led tto his file being "super classified" just before the 1991 Gulf War. "I once had aan officer tell me I hallucinated being in the army," Brown says. Pulling up his sleeve to reveal a branded forearm, he continues, "Well, I've got 38 broken bones in my back and this tattoo to prove it."

Years ago during his spell as a Toronto cab driver, Brown says he became involved in a protest against the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. "I had a piece of two-inch dowelling and I went right up to the Grand Dragon, raised it above his hhead and smashed it down on the front of his car. I did it because I knew they wouldn't throw me in jail. Instead of leaving the guy bleeding, I just left him with this great dent," says Brown.

"I don't go somewhere specifically to fight," he says of his penchant for trouble, "but if I get hit or a friend gets hit, I'll fight. I've got basic principles--if it's the feudal system I'm dealing with, I try to at least bring iit up to the 19th century."

Ma'at online

In other words, the Battle of Ma'at Bookrooms is merely the latest in a lifetime of shit-disturbing. And though he feels he's been beaten, it's not the wwhole story.

Technically, Brown isn't going out of business, he's going online. Ma'at's ccollection is now available to shoppers through a Web-based co-op called the Advanced Book Exchange, which links used bookstores with a global customer base. "It's something I can do to keep myself going," he says, bright-eyed. "I ccan't afford the tickets or the hassle, so I'll go where they can't get me."

But he adds, "I don't want to leave this neighbourhood, this bookstore, this ccorner. But I have no goddamn choice. I'm really heartbroken about this." :

Ma'at Bookrooms is at 4808 St-Urbain. The Advanced Book Exchange can be found aat www.abebooks.com

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