International Conference: Current Security Challenges for the Western Balkan Region Addressed by Means of Joint Responsibility and Cooperation NON-VIOLENT REJECTIONISTS complete rejection of Western values and a rejectionists. One of the most organized among proclaimed desire to establish an Islamic state them is Hizb ut Tahrir(Liberation Party, HT). worldwide are the characteristics not only of jihadist groups, but also of several seemingly Founded in East Jerusalem in the early 1950s, non-violent movements and organizations operating in Europe. Many of these groups can HT has developed into a global movement with branches on virtually all continents. 11 HT's be more or less loosely linked to Salast ideology. 8 Salasm preaches a return to a worldview is simple: all the solutions to man's political, economic, cultural, and social mythical Islamic golden era that can only be problems are to be found in Islam, and the only obtained by referring to the only unadulterated way for humanity to achieve justice is to sources: the Quran and the hadith. Salasm is abandon any man-made system(including “not only scripturalist but also literalist,” arguing democracy) and establish a Caliphate that Muslims should behave exactly how the pious forefathers of Islam behaved according to these sources. 9 encompassing not only today's Muslim world, but the entire globe. 12 HT ofcially aims at disseminating its ideology In Europe, as elsewhere, Salasts are not a unied movement. Rather, they are split and challenging the existing status quo without resorting to violence. 13 Its rhetoric is between various currents due to doctrinal sophisticated and skillfully tailored to the ears of 22 differences and leadership struggles. Some are quietist, isolating themselves from society, Western Muslims. HT, in fact, does not simply appeal to the disaffected masses of while others do advocate involvement in society unassimilated European Muslims. Members of and politics. Most refute violence, at least in HT tend to be highly educated young Europe, but some do not and are better professionals who are second-generation categorized as violent rejectionists—the lines Muslim immigrants in Europe, and their ranks are in some cases blurred. Salasm has been are buttressed further by a small cadre of able to attract a growing number of European converts. The organization's members are Muslims through its claims of simplicity, active in spreading HT's message through an meaning and moral superiority. As argued by unrelenting propaganda effort. This includes Dutch scholar Roel Meijer,“in a contentious websites and publications in various European age, Salasm transforms the humiliated, the languages, leaets in Muslim neighborhoods downtrodden, disgruntled young people, the and in front of mainstream mosques, and discriminated migrant, or the politically conferences regularly held throughout the repressed into a chosen sect(al-rqa al-najiya) that immediately gains privileged access to the Truth.” 10 continent and attended by thousands of sympathizers. 14 Salas and HT generally stop short of expressly Other ideological movements operating in advocating violence, at least in the West. Their Europe can be put in the category of non-violent literature and speeches state that Islam is under 8 For more on Salasm, see: Roel Meijer, ed., Global Salasm: Islam's New Religious Movement(New York: Columbia University Press, 2009). 9 Roel Meijer,“Introduction,” in Roel Meijer, ed., Global Salasm: Islam's New Religious Movement(New York: Columbia University Press, 2009). Page 4. 10 Roel Meijer,“Introduction,” in Roel Meijer, ed., Global Salasm: Islam's New Religious Movement(New York: Columbia University Press, 2009). Page 13. 11 According to the Hizb ut Tahir Britain website, available at: http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/who-is-ht/prominent-members.html. 12 Zeyno Baran, Hizb ut-Tahrir: Islam's Political Insurgency, report published by the Nixon Center, December 2004, available at: http://www.nixoncenter.org/Monographs/HizbutahrirIslamsPoliticalInsurgency.pdf. 13 Hizb ut Tahir Britain website, available at: http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/who-is-ht/our-method/our-method.html. 14 Most European branches of HT run sophisticated and frequently-updated websites. See, e.g., the website of HT Britain (http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/), Denmark(http://www.globalkhilafah.com/), and Holland(http://www.expliciet.nl/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/).