MP Mark Harper advises us to protest in a non-violent way against his government's proposed sell-off of the Forest of Dean and other misuses of power. Has Mr Harper come across Ghandi, the proponent of non-violent resistance, who said that "an unjust law is itself a species of violence" ? 

So whose is the violence and what can be done ?

Just an idea, but can I pick up on a hint in the inspiring, fascinating and comprehensive history of protest in the Forest on the HOOF (Hands off our Forest) website? Owen Adams, writing on the HOOF website, reminds us of the activities in the so-called Western Rising of around 1630 of one John Williams, who led protests across the west country against the seizure of land by the authorities – including at Bicknor, where he was arrested. 

Williams adopted the sobriquet of "Lady Skimmington" in what would then have been a familiar demonstration of populist opposition against those who offended not only against common decency (adulterers, for example) but communal rights (oppressive governments, for example) that involved dressing in women's clothes and sometimes painting one's face. 

The carnivalesque display was both a disguise and a deliberate calculated affront to the status quo and was an established tactic adopted by the oppressed – from Irish-Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, whose anti-imperialist gang sometimes wore dresses, to the Rebecca rioters in Wales. Of course, there were also many cases of unruly women rioting and their actions may well have influenced the cross-dressing antics of the men.

Locally, we see it not only in Bicknor in 1630 but in Yorkley in 1780, for example, when there was a riot by cross-dressers complaining against the Crown taking all the available timber.

Another similar expression of popular disapproval was "rough music" – the beating of saucepans and so on outside a house of the perceived offender. There is also the instance in Forest history of an unwelcome minister in the early 1800s finding his new home besieged by angry locals, who put sparrows through his windows and brought an owl to fight with a cat and at least one of whom painted his face half-white and half-black and wore a wig back-to-front. 

The disrespect for the ruling class's way of running things was also there in the various Forest customs of, for example, mock "Lord Mayor", "Courts" and "Sheriff" ceremonies that were still going until recent years in, for instance, Whitecroft and Drybrook, and still thrives in Gloucester, where you have the Mock Mayor of Barton.

Such activities were part of a popular tradition of expressing opposition to authority through acts of subversion and disruption. The historian E.P. Thompson calls such charivari "a generic term for a wide variety of popular rituals in which an embarrassing punishment is meted out in public to individuals who have offended the community".

All non-violent, of course. So I look forward to our 21st-century Lady Skimmington (can I propose Dave Morris, who so energetically remonstrated with our MP and would look good in skirts) leading painted cross-dressers and unruly women, perhaps surrounding a cottage in Newham Bottom (rather than travelling to Swindon) with some rough music and angry wildlife.

– Idris Roberts, Yorkley.