Preview text: A new audio series on the system we inhabit, and what comes after it.

Over the past year, this Substack has been a place to sit with uncertainty, to name what I called the in-between time: a moment when the old story no longer holds, the next one hasn’t fully arrived, and the ground beneath us feels unstable. Much of that work, whether demonstrated as photomontage or performance art, video or slideshows, or audio and written blogs, has been developed from inside the moment itself, as events accelerated and familiar explanations stopped keeping pace.

As a new year begins under a fascist regime, that uncertainty has sharpened, shaped by events that are no longer abstract, no longer distant, and no longer deniable. We are witnessing the consolidation of authoritarian power even as unexpected political ruptures emerge within it. Some developments escalate visibly. Others challenge what has long been treated as unchangeable.

One such rupture arrived quietly: the swearing-in of Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim-American democratic socialist, as Mayor of New York City. In another political moment, this might have been read as a local story. In this case, it serves as a signal: pressure within a system that has been insisting that no alternatives exist.

Together, these conditions raise a question that no longer feels abstract: what system are we actually living inside, and more importantly, given this moment, what comes after it?

After The In-Between Time is an audio series that grows directly out of that question.

The series steps back from the pace of daily events to examine the economic and political system we already inhabit; its strengths, its failures, and the subtle ways it shapes what feels normal, inevitable, or beyond challenge. The work here is clarity. Making these structures visible allows us to recognize where they no longer hold and where new possibilities begin to emerge.

The series opens by returning to two earlier audio blogs: The In-Between Time and The Architecture of Fascism. These pieces were written as part of this Substack’s ongoing chronicle, and together they mark a threshold. One names the moment we are in. The other reveals the structure beneath it. They form the ground from which the series proceeds.

From there, After The In-Between Time moves forward deliberately. New series episodes examine capitalism as the baseline system shaping modern political life and explore other political traditions as responses to the tensions produced by that system. These traditions are approached through the questions they ask about power, ownership, authority, and social organization. Each episode builds on the last. Understanding accumulates rather than resets.

This is a spoken series designed for close listening. It moves slowly by design. The aim is recognition, staying with patterns long enough to see how they repeat, how they normalize, and how they train expectations over time.

Some pieces on this Substack respond directly to events as they unfold. They are a chronicle of fascism unfolding in the United States. Other pieces step back to examine the system producing those events. Both are part of the same project.

Once certain patterns are seen clearly, they tend not to disappear.

For readers looking for recent chronicle context, check out:Warehouses — The Quiet Normalization of Mass Detention

In defiance and in solidarity, I am, Robin Liberte’, The Mother of Exiles. Activist. Artist. Author.

If this piece shook something in you, please subscribe and share, but also talk to your family, friends, and neighbors. This fight to save democracy ends when people stop engaging.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robinliberte.substack.com

After The In-Between Time: A New Series for 2026