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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is in the fight for his political position. His off record remarks caught on microphone calling a long time, Labor Party supporter a 'racist' have him in even deeper trouble. The supporter was complaining about the flood of Eastern European immigrants to Britain.

My Czech friend went to work in England as caretaker to an elderly lady. The salary she could make in British pounds was far superior to what she could make in Czech korunas back home. Can anyone really blame her for wanting to prosper? Can anyone really blame the British citizens for being angry at jobs being taken away from British nationals? When I was in Vienna in 2006 I sat in the Sudbahnhoff train station listening to a young man from Romania tell me about his recent experience in Italy. He had been working illegally in construction there. When the project was finished, the contractor refused to pay him knowing the young man had no legal recourse. He had to go home to his family empty handed after months of separation.

We see the recent law passed in Arizona. Clearly it's racist but can anyone blame the people of Arizona who support the law for their concerns over illegal immigrants. The point I am trying to make is that this issue is not black and white. There are good people on both sides of the argument. We have to come up with solutions that don't vilify either side. Cracking down on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants is part of the solution. Stronger border monitoring is another. Forcing Mexico to enforce their borders and penalizing them somehow for not doing so would help. But forcing people with brown skin to show papers is not the answer. Blaming European Union citizens for taking advantage of the rights they're now entitled to is not the answer. Cheating poor, desperate people who take desperate measures to feed their families is not the answer either. I think part of the answer is to see ourselves in others and think of the world as one nation. Perhaps if we did, appropriate solutions would follow.