‘Un-fucking-believable!’ exclaims the frantic Virgil, bursting back into a conversation. ‘I had to talk for a quarter of an hour to this couple who said they had dibs on my tent, which I had loaned to Lindy, and suddenly they not only claimed that I couldn’t sleep there, but said I couldn’t even take my stuff out of the tent. I finally managed to get to a consensus, but it took forever.’

‘They probably just wanted to screw,’ says Roy, one of the other participants of the conversation. ‘Well, at least they won’t do it on my mattress,’ adds Virgil.

It’s just one example of how social dynamics work at Occupy Amsterdam. After a couple of days of ‘occupation’, patterns are emerging and structure is slowly rising out of the fiercely democratic Assembly that takes place every evening. This is an intriguing aspect of Occupy Amsterdam that the media outlets that dropped by for a perfunctory story on Saturday are missing: most protests fizzle out over time, while the Occupy Amsterdam initiative seems to grow stronger and larger as it goes on – just like the example set by Occupy Wall Street. Although it’s hard to foresee future developments, the improvised campsite is growing every day and shows no signs of lacking enthusiasm and energy, while the actual demands are being fleshed out and the most wacky demands are slowly, but surely relegated to the sidelines.

On Saturday, the open stage was literally open to everyone, which allowed for a veritable smorgasbord of opinions, not all of them all that workable. But every single day, the Occupy Amsterdam team seems to grow and evolve. I’m curious how it will affect… well anything.

Occupy Amsterdam seems to have a lot of support from people who might not feel the urge to camp out in a tent in mid-October, but will drop by with food, support and supplies during the day or evening. After getting into a discussion about a meatless society with a radical vegan (who did make his point quite eloquently, to be sure), I ran into someone who loved sharing his mead (honey wine) with the crowd.

An alternative community is blossoming at Beursplein and I would recommend everyone visits and have at least three talks with people before you make up your mind. It may or may not change the world, but who knows what might happen. I sure don’t. Do you?