A week before the elections in a community center in The Hague. I am standing at the counter, staffed alternately by volunteers from different backgrounds. Over coffee, Jannie, the volunteer on duty, announces that she is going to vote PVV. That hits like a bomb. The women (all wearing headscarves) don’t believe it. The cheerful mood is gone. “You are joking!” says one. “No, I’m not joking,” says Jannie. The women walk away dejected, muttering that this cannot be true. Only then does Jannie realize her mistake: “But I do love you!”
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