what is the answer?

what is non-violence. as i had written before, this question is being debated in the peace movement here. is it consistent with non-violence to destroy property as long as no living things are injured in the process. i guess i have had mixed feelings when it comes to that particular question and every person i talk to has come out at a different spot. most of the "traditional" activists, who are also in general the older generations, all have pointed out that it isn't the property destruction but the fact that the action was not planned out and carefully targeted. citing instances like philip and daniel berrigan's destruction of 100's of draft records as a justifiable destruction of property. my own opinion is that this is just really a dodge of the real issue. i think that people want to glorify the activities that they deem acceptable...the berrigan's etc, but find a line and then draw it but that line is often fuzzy. for me i find that when looking at activism the use of these more "radical" tactics seem to be a hindrance to the overall cause. as a group begins to use those tactics they lose the ability to connect with a large majority of the people they are trying to reach and the other side is able to demonize them...thus taking the observers attention away from the actual goal and focusing it upon useless trivial acts. the problem becomes that the activist community seems to be at a point of self-examination. the more passive approaches seem to play right into the institutions hand and doesn't seem to be working. how as concerned citizens can we make a real difference and create major changes where they need to happen? how can we show people that a democratic political victory is actually not really a victory at all when we still have only two parties to vote for and neither represents our views? at this point i am content to continue to observe and soak up as much knowledge and understanding as i can and maybe someday i can better make statements to support or challenge the systems that control our lives.