I'm not a 'believer', at least not in the blind faith sense. But I do find in TA some very good tools that are just as useful now as ever from what I can see (using them backwards as well as forwards).
I expect one reason TA techniques are so useful is that so many people use them so they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. After all, there's no rational reason for fib lines to be as predictable as they are, but put them on the majority of charts and see how well they line up! I suspect that's because people decide that when the price gets to a fib line it's a buy/sell signal so everyone does it. Similar to any support/resistance line or channel, MAs etc. When the support/resistance is broken everyone stampedes :)
Nothing to do with free markets in the sense of an economic philosophy, but does depend on people being able to choose to trade on the market. Unless someone stops people being able to trade then charting is helpful. (Such as when there's a sudden rush for the exit a la 1987, which will never be repeated because systems will prevent it.)
I've lived in some cities where the citizens were so 'well-behaved' (read conservative, rule-based), if two people stopped walking on the pavement, a queue would form behind them - lol. I see charting a bit like that - it just helps track crowd behaviour.
