Property Destruction Is a Strategic Issue Debates over property destruction as part of an action scenario are best addressed as strategic and tactical questions and not moral choices. The question for nonviolent activists is not the sanctity of property, but the effects that the proposed property destruction will have on principled mass nonviolent action. In most cases, property destruction only makes sense for small groups, such as the Plowshares activists. So do authorities. Tactics that were successful and novel, that confused authorities, captured the public imagination, and attracted thousands of new participants can't simply be duplicated or just made bigger and better.
Some authorities are smart, creative, and able to plan effectively to remedy their past mistakes.
Each action should be looked at with fresh eyes. The site and the physical, political, social, and economic circumstances determine tactics. Consider, for example, occupation, reclamation, grand march to civil disobedience, encirclement, and action at multiple sites. Avoid military thinking and find nonviolent metaphors, e.g., reclamation and community building, instead of mere occupation. What's decisive in an action is soul force not physical force.