Every year July 23 is surrounded with controversy and political debates that are sometimes filled with rancor and intolerance. Yet in 2012, July 23 has come loaded with more than what we are used to.

This could be attributed to several reasons including the rising revolutionary tone against the military rule that has begun in July 1952 especially since this year it coincides with the anniversary of Mohamed Mohsen's death - who is known in the media as the Abbasiya martyr - and the birthday of Mina Danial who was killed during the tragic incidents of Maspero in October 2011.

Disputes are escalating as well after Islamist Mohamed Mursi became president. Mursi is a former leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood which had a violent feud with leaders of the July revolution after a short-lived honeymoon that ended in 1954.

"The revolution underwent the battle of independence. It tried to present a model for liberation movements in the world and to establish an example for development and mobilizing resources," President Mursi said in his speech on the eve of July 23 anniversary in an attempt to prove he is president for all and get over the bitter history between the brotherhood and the revolution.

The revolution succeeded in achieving some of its goals yet staggered while trying to attain others especially democracy and freedoms as these have declined throughout the different regimes in Egypt, he added.

Mursi made no reference to former President Gamal Abdel Nasser who is considered the figure of the July revolution and its leader.

The conflict and tension in the virtual world began on social media websites as activists on Twitter started a hashtag called "January_versus_July" where they wrote phrases mostly pointing out to the fact the military regime that ran, or as some believe still runs, the transitional phase is only an extension of the "repressive and authoritarian" regime entrenched by Abdel Nasser.

"January versus July is not a brawl with the past or with history. It is an ongoing battle between the military state and the guardianship on society, oppressing freedoms and tyranny in the name of the majority," journalist Amr Ezzat has written on Twitter.

"We have been brainwashed to remain convinced that the military institution is our mom, that we were lost and were only saved by hanging on to the tail of her dress," engineer Mohamed al-Sharqawi has tweeted as well.

January revolution is against July revolution and the pre-July period as well, director Bassem Mortada has said while media professor Rasha Abdullah has written she will not celebrate "what is called the July revolution" because the January revolution came to correct what July's has spoiled.

Journalist Wael Abdel Fattah considered the execution of workers Khamis and al-Baqari in 1952 "the first message of the oppressive military state to the people."

In addition, pictures of the late president Mohamed Naguib have spread on Facebook as a symbol of the military man who called for handing power over to civilians then was excluded and shunned from political life by the July revolution regime.

Intellectual and Islamist historian Mohamed Galal Keshk's Facebook page published a section of his book - The American July Revolution - in which he attacks Abdel Nasser and the July "coup", accusing him of abandoning Sudan and lodging Egypt in the age of "Israeli dominance and American-Russian influence."

On his Facebook page, activist Ahmed Adly condemned Abdel Nasser and wondered "how many Muslims were killed, tortured and humiliated under his rule." Abdel Nasser replaced religion with nationalism and Quran with the charter, Adli wrote. He finished off by saying, "Yet Abdel Nasser had one advantage that no longer exists in people like him nowadays; Abdel Nasser was not an agent."

On the other hand, this attack was countered by a defence of the July revolution at times and an attack on faultfinders at others.

Sabri Fawaz, an artist, has said, "July 23 looks like a coup yet its results resemble those of a revolution ... January 25 looks like a revolution yet its results resemble those of a coup."

Yasser al-Hawari has criticized on Twitter the "January versus July" hashtag, saying that all those who use it have collected their information from films biased against the July revolution such as al-Karnak. He ended his tweet with the phrase, "Read history or shut up."

Pictures of Gamal Abdel Nasser spread on Facebook accompanied by observations of the "achievements" of the sixties economically, socially and politically.

Some have chosen to take a more centrist stance. "Hona al-thawra" (This is the revolution) Facebook page wrote that Abdel Nasser is neither prophet nor devil; he sided with the poor and the marginalized, he has economic and political achievements and he has done a lot for the country yet he was the first to ingrain the rules of the "tyrannical military state".

In a gesture clearly reflecting his choice to ignore the July revolution on Twitter, Mohamed ElBaradei, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called on the youth "in the memory of Mohamed Mohsen and Mina Danial" to unite and focus on the goals to achieve the revolution's victory. This action may be interpreted in terms of ElBaradei's refusal to engage in an ongoing debate between revolutionary powers.

Moving on from the virtual world to the real one, several revolutionary movements have hosted two opposing celebrations in Tahrir square on Monday; the first celebrated the anniversary of the passage of 60 years on "entrenching the oppressive military rule" while the other celebrated the passage of 60 years on "the July revolution which called for liberation and social justice" after efforts to close the gap between both blocs that belong to the January revolution failed.

One of the clearest aspects of the controversy and disagreement on that period is the stark dispute on the name of the event itself; some call it the "July coup" as a way of rejecting to commemorate a "coup" while others call it the "July revolution" as a way of supporting it.

Yet this period remains one of the important stages that affected the political regime in Egypt and Abdel Nasser remains one of the most controversial figures in Egypt's history, as the Iraqi poet - al-Gawahri - described him, "he of great glories and mistakes."