I don& #39;t think people should have very confident views about the political effects of any particular protest tactic, and certainly not anything like property destruction or setting fires.
1/

Sometimes they incite backlashes and reaction.

Sometimes they successfully put the relevant powers that be on notice and motivates them to avoid provoking such reactions in the future.
2/

Either one, or the balance between them if they both happen, depends on the decisions and actions of other people; they& #39;re not just natural facts about the world. Everyone should be very, very modest in their confidence about predictions about how they come out.
3/

If your confident prediction about those political effects closely tracks your view of the moral status of those action-- "arson is attempted murder," "chain stores steal from their communities so it& #39;s righteous for people to steal back"-- that& #39;s a very bad sign.
4/

And if it closely tracks just your sheer emotional reaction to the acts of destruction, whether disgusted anger or excited frisson, that& #39;s worse still.

Own up to your evaluation of the means, without unwarranted confidence about how it will all turn out.

/fin