November 30th, 2023, we had the pleasure of meeting Kelley Buhles in Basel.
After sharing a bit about our conference, some thoughts on our theme and the connections to her work, and then hearing from Kelley, we conducted a short interview. We’re sharing it with you below.

Questions by Noël Norbron, Gabriele Nys and Nathaniel Williams
Transcription by Freya Knierim

ISC Team  
Could you share an experience from your high school years which gave you courage through connecting with others?  

Kelley Buhles
I was very engaged with my high school church youth choir, and we did a lot of singing and traveling. Then in the summer, we would go down and build houses in Mexico, which now I think is frowned upon, in terms of the white savior mentality.  But it was one of the earliest experiences I had in terms of economics. Seeing another economic situation that was very different from my own. Because I think, at that age of 13, when you’re sort of growing up in a white affluent American neighborhood, it’s all you know, right? And even within the neighborhood I was in, there were people who were wealthier than us. So, I felt less wealthy within the community. And that was how I just assumed it was. Then when we all went down to build houses in Mexico, I just had this completely eye-opening experience of the reality of the economic situation in other parts of the world.   

I remember thinking that they seemed so much happier than all the rich people that I knew. And that was such an early moment when I realized how money can be toxic. Especially the backwards and broken concept of how money flows in the world.   

So that is a very, very strong money experience for me! And seeing the loveliness of meeting these families and connecting with them, despite the language barrier! It was the connecting with others. And also my church, it was a very warm experience altogether. A lot of my early experiences came out of that.  

ISC Team  
What comes up for you when you look out into the world today, imagine you were finishing high school?  

Kelley Buhles  
Just finishing high school? So wild.   

I imagine that it’s hard. Just because there are so many global awful things happening, and there are a lot of wildcards out there, for example artificial intelligence. Just big, scary things.   

But I also don’t want to presume that scares people who are coming out of high school right now.   

I guess I‘d say I hope that I would see all the things that give me hope. Which is, for example, this movement of young people who are really saying no. Just the way that youth are showing up to the climate movement and being like this isn‘t working and we have to stop. It just feels so fundamental. And that kind of confidence is something that I don’t see in a lot of adults.   

So I hope, if I was coming out of high school right now, that I would be feeling hopeful, and not alone, because of how much the youth movement is showing up right now. Which gives me hope. 

ISC Team  
Who did you look up to when you were in high school? Do you remember?  

Kelley Buhles  
Did I look up to Eddie Vedder? I don’t know if anyone knows who that is. I didn’t realize I’m so old until people don’t know who that is.  

He is a lead singer, but to whom did I look up to, it’s such a good question.  

Ah yeah, I know who.   

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the folk-rock singer Ani DiFranco. She is a very grassroots folk singer in America. She started her own record label when she was 16 and refused to sell out, so she still has that record label. It’s called Righteous Babe Records. She’s one of the most successful independent artists in America and her art has always been highly political. She’s always spoken up against racism, and she’s been abolitionist for a long time. She was working for economic restorations in the places where she went. She’s always been like a hero for me, because I think seeing a young woman be strong…! And she’s also really, really short! (laughing) And when she gets her guitar, she tears it up. And I think she breaks her fingers sometimes because she plays it so hard.   

And so, I think seeing a short, small, fierce young woman, just say no to the patriarchy and do her own thing and still doing her own thing…

Yes, she’s my hero out there.  

ISC Team
What are you doing now? How might that change after connecting with hundreds of students from around the world?  

Kelley Buhles    
That’s a great question!  

I don’t know either right now. I do a lot of things around shifting power, shifting money, shifting power over money. For example getting funders to give up control, but then also supporting communities to develop governance structures that are based in community and building governance structures. So, if you have an asset base instead of having a single funder own it. What if a community owned it in perpetuity? And how would you structure the governance so that the power is shared and that all the stakeholders have a voice, which is very rare, and I think resonates a lot with associative economics.  

How do you even build an organization where all the stakeholders have equal power? Because right now it’s like a nonprofit, a board has power, but the staff doesn’t have power. And the people, they serve don’t have power. So, how do you bring all those stakeholders together? I do a lot of work, which I call community led governance. But for the moment, all those models are building off of cooperative models and things that are already out there.   

It’s pretty exciting and I think, or better I hope what might change, after getting to meet 600 young people from around the world, is that I will get more creative ideas. Because I don’t want to generalize that all old prople don’t have good ideas (laughter). That’s not true. But it’s so easy to get stuck in your ways. And so, when we say another world is possible, many people say no it’s not or that’s not true or that can’t be done. There’s a lot of work I do where I ask why can’t that be done? Is that a law? Or is that a cultural norm that you’re afraid to change? I am trying to find little ways to challenge the resistance I need. 

And so, I hope that getting to meet so many young people, there’ll be a lot more energy around. I hope that we will be going to fundamentally change, questioning how we are in the world. How we show up and engage with even labor or money. Like all of that must be a new way of being, and I hope I’ll get lots of inspiration that that’s possible and that’s happening. I will just be inspired.