Kazakhstan has entered a new historical period.
This year, with my Message, I announced the beginning of the Third modernization of Kazakhstan.
This is how we launched two major renewal processes-political reform and economic modernization.
The goal is known-to enter the top thirty developed countries in the world.
Both modernization processes have clear goals and objectives, priorities, and methods for achieving them. I am sure that everything will be done on time and as efficiently as possible. But this is not enough.
I am convinced that the large-scale transformations we have begun must be accompanied by a rapid modernization of public consciousness. It will not just complement political and economic modernization-it will serve as their core.
It should be noted that over the years of Independence, we have adopted and implemented a number of major programs.
Since 2004, the "Madeni Mura" program has been implemented, aimed at restoring historical and cultural monuments and objects on the territory of Kazakhstan.
In 2013, we adopted the program "Halyk Tarikh tolkynynda", which allowed us to systematically collect and study documents from the world's leading archives dedicated to the history of our country.
And today we must begin a more extensive and fundamental work.
Therefore, I decided to share my vision of how we can take a step towards the future together, change the public consciousness to become a United Nation of strong and responsible people.
I. on NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS in the XXI CENTURY
Before our eyes, the world is beginning a new, largely obscure, historical cycle. It is impossible to take a place in the advanced group while maintaining the previous model of consciousness and thinking. Therefore, it is important to concentrate, change yourself and, through adaptation to changing conditions, take the best of what the new era brings.
What was, in my opinion, the main drawback of the Western models of modernization of the XX century in relation to the realities of our time? The fact that they transferred their unique experience to all peoples and civilizations without taking into account their characteristics.
Even heavily upgraded companies include codes of culture, the origins of which go back to the past.
The first condition for a new type of modernization is to preserve one's own culture and national code. Without this, modernization will become an empty phrase.
But this does not mean preserving everything in the national consciousness — both what gives us confidence in the future and what leads us back.
The new modernization should not, as before, look haughtily at historical experience and traditions. On the contrary, it should make the best traditions a prerequisite, an important condition for the success of modernization.
Without the support of national and cultural roots, modernization will hang in the air. I want it to stay firmly on the ground. This means that history and national traditions must be taken into account.
This is a platform that connects the horizons of the past, present and future of the people.
I am convinced that the most important mission of spiritual modernization is also to reconcile the various poles of national consciousness.
I would like to highlight several areas of modernization of the consciousness of society as a whole and of every citizen of Kazakhstan.
1. Competitiveness
Today, not only an individual, but also a nation as a whole has a chance of success only by developing its competitiveness.
This means, first of all, the ability of a nation to offer something advantageous in price and quality in regional and global markets. And this is not only a material product, but also knowledge, services, intellectual products, and finally, the quality of the labor resource.
The peculiarity of tomorrow is that it is the competitiveness of a person, and not the availability of mineral resources, that becomes a factor in the success of a nation.
Therefore, any citizen of Kazakhstan, as well as the nation as a whole, must have a set of qualities worthy of the XXI century. And among the absolute prerequisites for this are such factors as computer literacy, knowledge of foreign languages, and cultural openness.
Therefore, the Digital Kazakhstan program, the trilingualism program, and the program of cultural and religious harmony are part of preparing the nation (all Kazakhstanis) for life in the XXI century. This is part of our competitiveness.2. Pragmatism
Modernization is impossible without changing a number of habits and stereotypes. There are many examples of genuine pragmatism in our history.
Over the centuries, our ancestors have preserved a unique environmentally correct way of life, preserving the environment, the earth's resources, and using its resources very pragmatically and economically.
And only for a few years in the middle of the last century, the irrational use of resources led to the disappearance of the Aral sea, turning thousands of hectares of fertile land into zones of ecological disaster. And this is an example of an extremely non-pragmatic attitude to the environment. Thus, the old national pragmatism turned into extravagance.
On the way to modernization, we should remember the skills of our ancestors. Pragmatism means accurate knowledge of your national and personal resources, their economical use, and the ability to plan your future.
Pragmatism is the opposite of extravagance, arrogance, life for show. The culture of modern society is a culture of moderation, a culture of prosperity, not luxury, it is a culture of rationality.
The ability to live rationally with an emphasis on achieving real goals, with an emphasis on education, a healthy lifestyle and professional success — this is pragmatism in behavior.
And this is the only successful model in the modern world. When a nation and an individual are not focused on concrete practical achievements, then there are unrealistic, populist ideologies that lead to disaster.
Unfortunately, history gives us many examples when entire Nations, led by unrealistic ideologies, were defeated. We saw the collapse of the three main ideologies of the last century — communism, fascism and liberalism.
The age of radical ideologies has passed. We need clear, clear and forward-looking attitudes. Such an attitude can be a focus on achieving specific goals with the calculation of their capabilities and limits, both as a person and as a nation as a whole. Realism and pragmatism are the watchwords of the coming decades.3. The preservation of national identity
The very concept of spiritual modernization implies changes in the national consciousness. There are two points here.
First, it is a change in the national consciousness.
Secondly, it is the preservation of the inner core of the national " I " when changing some of its features.
What is the danger of the prevailing modernization models today? Modernization is seen as a transition from a national development model to a single, universal one. But life always proves that this is a mistake! In practice, different regions and countries have developed their own models.
Our national traditions and customs, language and music, literature and wedding ceremonies — in a word, the national spirit-must always remain with us.
The wisdom of Abay, the pen of Auezov, the heartfelt lines of Jambul, the magical sounds of Kurmangazy, the eternal call of aruakh — this is only part of our spiritual culture.
But modernization also means that a number of archaic habits and addictions that do not fit into the global world should be left in the past.
This also applies to such a feature of our consciousness as the regional division of a single nation. To know and be proud of the history of your region is a necessary and useful thing. But we should not forget about much more-about belonging to a single and great nation.
We are building a meritocratic society where everyone should be judged on their personal contribution and personal professional qualities. This system does not tolerate nepotism. This is a form of career development in backward societies.
The task is not to enumerate the positive and negative aspects of the accumulated experience. The challenge is to understand two immutable rules.
First. No modernization can take place without preserving the national culture.
Second. To move forward, it is necessary to abandon those elements of the past that do not allow the nation to develop.4. The cult of knowledge
The desire for education has always been characteristic of our people.
Much has been done over the years of Independence. We have trained tens of thousands of young professionals in the best universities in the world. The beginning, as you know, was laid by the Bolashak program in the early 90 - ies of the last century. We have created a number of very high-level universities, a system of intellectual schools, and much more.
But the cult of education must be universal. And there is a hard and clear reason for this. The technological revolution is leading to the fact that in the coming decades, half of the existing professions will disappear. No era has ever seen such a rapid change in the professional image of the economy.
And we have entered this era. In such conditions, only a highly educated person can successfully live, who can change their profession relatively easily due to a high level of education.
Therefore, Kazakhstan is among the most advanced countries in the world in terms of the share of budget expenditures on education.
Every citizen of Kazakhstan should understand that education is the most fundamental factor of success in the future. Education should be the first priority in the system of youth priorities.
If education becomes the main value in the value system, then the nation will be successful.5. Evolutionary, not revolutionary, development of Kazakhstan
this year marks the 100th anniversary of the radical changes that took place in a huge part of Eurasia in October 1917. The entire twentieth century was marked by revolutionary upheavals.
Each nation learns its own lessons from history. This is his right, and you can not impose your point of view on others. But also, no one has the right to impose their own subjective vision of history on us.
And the lessons of the twentieth century for our people are in many ways tragic.
First, the natural path of national development was broken and alien forms of social structure were imposed.
Secondly, a terrible demographic blow has been inflicted on the nation. A blow that has been felt for a century.
Third, the Kazakh language and culture were almost lost.
Fourth, the territory of Kazakhstan has become an environmental disaster area in many regions.