Off-key in a chorus
Meet Chuck Turner, geopolitical analyst.
It was supposed to be a banner day for coalition building two weeks ago when activists marched from Roxbury to Boston Common in support of the renewal of the federal Voting Rights Act, due for consideration in 2007.
The speakers represented an array of groups. Organizers say there was an agreement that they would all limit their comments to voting rights.
That was the plan, but Turner had other ideas.
The Roxbury city councilor decided it was the perfect opportunity to discuss the voting rights of Palestinians.
After touching on the War on Drugs and the number of people of color in prison, both of which he cited as examples of racism, he moved on to foreign policy.
''An example of the racist international policy is the fact that the majority of the federal government foreign aid allocation goes to Israel and Egypt, thus financially supporting Israel's keeping our Palestinian brothers and sisters as virtual prisoners of war."
He went on to invoke Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in calling for an end to ''the militarism, economic exploitation, and racism embedded in our federal policies."
His comments immediately kicked off a debate, largely conducted by e-mail, among the dozens of groups that had taken part in the event.
The Anti-Defamation League wrote to Turner, accusing him of grossly mischaracterizing the state of affairs in the Middle East and of using a platform intended for promoting unity to advance his ''separate agenda." Turner wrote back, elaborating on his point of view and saying, in so many words, that if his comments made people uncomfortable, that was their problem, not his.
Turner has been the most fascinating member of the City Council since the day he joined it, not least because he cares so little what people think about either the issues he champions or the positions he takes on them.
Still, he crawled onto a political third rail by equating US policy toward Israel with racism and by suggesting that Palestinians are prisoners of war.
Andrew Tarsy, the ADL's regional director, dismissed Turner's comments earlier this week. ''He's plain wrong, and he's spreading his demagoguery," Tarsy said.
Turner stuck to his position yesterday. He repeatedly came back to the idea that the United States, as Israel's benefactor, has a duty to speak out about the treatment of Palestinians.
''Given that the rally was marshaling people of conscience, I thought it was very appropriate that I point out that we are not gathering the forces in our country to say we need to demand of Israel a resolution," he said.
Even people who support Turner seemed surprised that he would take on such a charged and complex issue.
''I'm more interested in whether poor black folks in Boston are going to have heating oil this winter," said Horace Small, a community organizer who took part in the rally. ''I know . . . nobody in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem is counting on anybody in Boston to solve their problems for them."
It's easy to get to Turner's position if you disregard all the nuances of the situation. Plenty of people believe the only long-range solution for the Middle East is a Palestinian state. But proclaiming Israelis jailers and Americans complicit through foreign aid doesn't advance the debate. It just dumbs it down.
Turner's critics on the City Council often wonder why he won't confine his politics to issues that affect his constituents. That won't happen, partly because of his odd delusions of grandeur. He really believes shopworn lefty rhetoric is still revolutionary.
Turner really isn't a demagogue; he's a 1960s-era activist who thinks in slogans and bumper stickers. That should have made him a perfect speaker for a paint-by-numbers event on voting rights.
Trouble is, when he starts thinking globally, he can kill a coalition in a hurry.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com. 
