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The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents.

The people power in Wisconsin has become too big for the media to ignore.

On Saturday, over 70,000 people took to the streets of Madison to oppose Republican Governor Scott Walker’s plan to strip the state’s 145,000 public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

Long time organizers said it was the largest demonstration the city has ever seen.

Rallies also took place in small towns across the state. Madison schools are closed again today for the fourth day in a row. Schools shut down because so many teachers called in sick to protest. Many of their students joined them.

In a sign of solidarity, people from all over the world are calling Ian’s Pizza in Madison to order food for the demonstrators. Calls have come from Egypt, Korea, the Netherlands, Turkey, and almost all 50 states.

Solidarity actions from Phoenix, Arizona, to Scranton, Pennsylvania are taking place this week, and what’s happening in Wisconsin is having ripple affects across the country.

Yesterday, 500 people rallied in Las Vegas to oppose a plan to dilute collective bargaining laws for public employee unions.

Hundreds of people rallied in Dayton, Ohio to oppose a similar measure. Thousands are expected to take to the streets today.

On February 8, 2,000 teachers and public school supporters packed Indiana’s statehouse to oppose yet another collective bargaining restriction law. Republican Governor Mitch Daniels also wants to implement a performance-based pay system for teachers.

Citizens are also taking to the streets across the country to oppose drastic budget cuts to a wide array of social services.

On Saturday, 5,000 people in Idaho took part in 17 rallies across the state to oppose $50 million in Medicaid cuts.

Two weeks ago, 200 people with disabilities, their family members, and caregivers demonstrated outside the gates of San Quentin in Northern California to protest a plan to build a new $356 million death row facility, while cutting services for the disabled.

A number of groups are rallying at the state capitol this afternoon to oppose Governor Jerry Brown’s budget, which calls for deep cuts affecting everything from public libraries to in-home supportive services.

And this weekend, two major nationwide actions are planned.

Walk for Choice rallies will take place in at least 40 cities and three countries this Saturday at noon. Demonstrators will express their support for Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights. On Friday, House Republicans voted to strip federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Also on Saturday, the new group US Uncut is having its first action. They was inspired by UK Uncut, an anti-austerity movement that has swept the United Kingdom. On Saturday, UK Uncut protesters staged bail-ins at nearly 50 branches of Barclays Bank to expose the bank’s tax and bonus policies. Earlier this month, the groups successfully shut down a number of stores and banks across the country.

US Uncut will bring attention to the fact that most corporations pay no US income taxes. Most of Saturday’s actions are scheduled to take place at Bank of America and Chase Bank branches.